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(Date) 



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(Apr. 5, 1901—5,000.) 




Book y^^r_ 



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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



THE 

ART OF ENJOYING 

THE BIBLE 



BY 
EDWARD LEIGH PELL 



RICHMOND VA 
THE IDEA PUBLISHING COMPANY 



cm-i2 






Copyrighted by 

B. F. Johnson Publishing Company. 

1899. 



f-TWO COPIES RECEIVED, 




PKEFACE. 



In the following pages I have tried to set down, 
in language as plain as I could command, an answer 
in some sort to the one question which comes to my 
ears oftener than any other; namely, "How can I 
read the Bible so as to enjoy it ?" 'Not how to read 
the Bible — for every one knows how to read it for 
one purpose or another — for conscience' sake, for ex- 
ample, or for literary gain, or for texts to support a 
pet theory, or as a religious duty — but how to read it 
with that sense of pleasure which we think one ought 
to feel in reading such a book as we believe the Bible 
to be. 



CONTENTS. 



I. A Question of Pi^easure 
II. Getting Ready . . . 

III. Manner of Approach 

IV. The Matter of Method . 
V. Reading the Bibi,e by Books 

VI. In Reading Particui^ar Books 
VII. Studying the Bibi^e by Topics 
VIII. The Topicai, Method Ii,i,ustrated 
IX. One Way of Studying the Sunday-Schooi. 

Lesson .... 
X. Accounting for Difficulties 
XI. A Pair of Neglected Helps 
XII. To Cultivate a Taste for the Bible in 
Little Children 

XIII. When Family Worship is a Pleasure 

XIV. Additional Points .... 



Page. 
7 

15 

25 

31 

43 

55 
77 
83 

97 
103 
III 

117 
125 
133 



I. 

A QUESTION^ OF PLEASURE. 



He finds little profit who finds little pleasure in 
seeking it. The rule holds good in every sphere of 
activity: in hunting, in fishing, in gold-seeking, in 
scientific investigation, in searching the Scriptures — 
in every exacting quest the most valuable "finds" are 
reserved for those who find most pleasure in toiling 
for them. The man who quickly tires of carrying a 
gun brings back little game; the man who finds no 
delight in scrambling over the rocks finds little gold ; 
the man who never reads a chapter in the Bible, with- 
out first turning the leaf to see how long it is, will 
not grow rich in heavenly wisdom. One cannot draw 
treasures out of a mine by a yawn. 

To read the Bible with profit, one must not only 
know how to read it ; one must know how to read it 
so as to enjoy it. To enjoy a simple story, one needs 
only to have an appetite for it, and to dive into it. 
To enjoy a book of complex character — a vast store- 
house of intellectual and spiritual riches — one must 

[7] 



■'?^ 



8 ART OF ENJOYING THE BIBLE. 

have, besides an appetite for it, some conception of its 
value ; and one must know how to get at its contents. 

One reason why many people do not enjoy the 
Bible is that they have never learned that there is 
anything in it to enjoy. It has not occurred to them 
that the Bible has any practical use. They keep it in 
the same way and for the same reason that they keep 
a family relic — because it is sacred, and they feel 
better for handling sacred things; and they expect 
to be rewarded not by anything that they may get out 
of it, but as a prize for honoring it. 

Put a stem- winder in the hands of your boy, and it 
will be to him nothing more than a toy, until one day 
he happens to turn the stem and the wheels start off, 
and it becomes a living watch. Most of us have got 
to go on an expedition of discovery through our 
Bibles before we will learn that the Old Book is not a 
toy, but a living time-piece that tells off the minutes 
as they fly, and points to the twelfth hour and to the 
night coming when no man can work. 

The prevailing ignorance of the Bible is not of the 
negative sort; the trouble is not the lack of ideas 
about the Book, but that the ideas are wrong. Five 
ugly blisters need puncturing : 

1. The Bible is not a chest of relics. Some peo- 
ple profess to dislike the Book for the same reason 
that they dislike musty odors or dead men's bones. 
This is mere chaff. The Bible is made of ancient 
documents, but it is not a whit more ancient than 



A QUESTION OF PLEA8VRE. 9 

the beautiful vase formed to-day out of materials 
which have existed since the beginning of creation. 
If it is old, it is old in wisdom, not in heart. 

2. It is not a curiosity shop. There is a prevail- 
ing notion among young people that the Old Book is 
to be valued chiefly for its puzzle corners and the nuts 
it gives them to crack. Sunday Schools of the 
"vainer sort" are responsible for this notion. So long 
as prizes are awarded children for answers to curious 
questions, just so long will they search the Book with 
no higher motive than to learn where it is said that a 
man stood behind a tree eating a mouse. 

3. It is not an amulet. A great many people laugh 
at the poor negro's rabbit foot worn at the throat to 
keep off evil spirits and — use a Bible instead. They 
keep a Bible in the house for the same reason that 
some people are said to keep bees in the yard — for 
luck. A chapter read ever so mechanically before 
going to bed eases the conscience, soothes the nerves, 
softens the pillow and exorcises the ghosts. 

4. It is not a literary production, as such. I am 
heartily sick of the sentiment which crops out of 
nearly all of our modern methods of biblical study, 
that the Bible is valuable chiefly as a literary feast 
or an intellectual gymnasium. It is true that it is 
literary in form — that it contains the best poetry, the 
most entertaining history, the highest philosophy — 
but it is literary in form only, not in purpose. Its 
poetry was not given us to criticise, its history to 



10 ART OF ENJOTINQ THE BIBLE. 

question, its philosophy to speculate upon. There 
would not have been a line of poetry, or history, or 
philosophy from Genesis to Revelation if the purpose 
of the Author could have been better secured by 
other means. The world has never needed a revela- 
tion to unfold the power of language or to establish a 
principle of rhetoric. 

What, then, is the Bible ? 

It is a word, ^ot words, not a miscellany, not an 
encyclopedia of familiar quotations, not a conglom- 
erate or ^ ^composite" mass of facts and figures, but 
one word ; one complete expression of one will. 

It is the word. Not one of many revelations of 
the same authority counting equally with the imbe- 
cilities of the Koran and the incoherencies of the 
Mahatmas, but the word; the best word, the final 
utterance of its Author. 

It is the word of God. l^ot the word of Moses, or 
Paul, or David, or John. Not the record of many 
minds, though the work of many pens. How do I 
know it is of God? Because it inspires God-like 
lives and lends a hand in making them. Because 
when we are at enmity with him it is the last book 
we want to read. Because the nearer we get to him 
the better we understand it. 

It is a letter from our Father. If we love him, 
whether we can get any sense out of it or not, if it is 
the only letter he has written us, we will treasure it ; 
we will try to read it now and then. And if we love 



A QUESTION OF PLEASURE. 11 

him we will not feel like picking flaws in it; we will 
not have the heart — or the lack of it — to criticise the 
spelling, or the grammar, or the ignorance it exhibits 
on scientific matters. And because he is our Father 
we will take his word for what occurred before our 
time, ho\^5ever impracticable it may appear to us to- 
day. 

It is a letter of invitation. It invites us back 
home; back to a Father's heart; back to an inherit- 
ance ; back to forgiveness, peace, joy, life eternal. 

It is not only an invitation to heaven; it gives us 
full directions how to get there. My guide-book to 
Europe I find dull reading. But if I should decide 
to go to Europe the first thing I would want would be 
that guide-book, and I would find it the newest, fresh- 
est, most indispensable book in my library. And 
that is just what a man finds his Bible to be when he 
wakes up one fine morning and says, deep down in 
his heart, that he is going to heaven. As we walk 
the deck of the ship of life we usually learn whither 
the passengers are bound by the guide-books they hold 
in their hands. 

!N^ot only does it give full directions about the way, 
but it contains supplies enough for the whole jour- 
ney ; it is the commissary of the soul. God's word is 
bread. Like the manna given to Israel, it is intended 
for daily use ; like the loaves which Jesus brake, the 
more we eat the more we have; like the handful of 
meal in the widow's barrel, the more we give to others 



12 ART OF ENJOYING THE BIBLE. 

the more we have left for ourselves. Multitudes of 
God's children are starving while the pantrj shelves 
groan beneath the weight of nutritious loaves. 

And then there are directions for times of sick- 
ness — a complete family physician, describing every 
disease of the soul and pointing to an infallible 
remedy. 

And lest we have other needs along the way, there 
are placed here and there through the Book hundreds 
of sight drafts, endorsed by our Lord himself, with 
the space for the amount left blank to be filled out 
according to our faith. They are like the ten-dollar 
notes a mother laid between the leaves of her boy's 
Bible when he was about to leave home, which he did 
not find until he had played the prodigal act and hun- 
gered for husks. 

Is the outfit complete? Ought not the traveller 
to have a lamp for his feet ? Hold the Book up on a 
dark night of sorrow and see! Every page shines 
with the light which comes from the face of God. 

But to know that the Bible contains what we need 
is one thing; to feel that it contains what we want is 
another. Few things are so hard to open as an oyster 
until you want the oyster. The self-complacent, com- 
fortably full man is not likely to find his way into 
either the Bible or the oyster. I do not say that one 
must never go to the Book until he is hungry, but 
that to read it with enjoyment one must have an appe- 
tite for it. 



A QVE8TI0I} OF PLEASURE. 13 

HoNv can I acquire an appetite for the Book ? 

A sweet girl falls into the silly habit of eating salt. 
First it is taken in immoderate quantities in the food. 
Then it is dipped between meals. Then the bloom 
vanishes, and bj-and-by the system is disordered. 
Food is forced until it can no longer be forced. What 
is the remedy? First, stop the salt; second, 
straighten out the system; third, take plenty of air 
and exercise. Sometimes a child of God falls into 
the habit of dipping, not salt, but sin. Just one lit- 
tle appetizing sin. Soon it ceases to be a luxury and 
seems a necessity. The bloom fades. The blood is 
dried up. The entire spirit is disordered. The 
Word of God, once nutritious food, becomes stale and 
flat. The salt habit and the sin habit are very much 
alike. So are the methods of treatment. The sin 
must be put aside. The whole system must undergo 
a thorough cleansing. Then the patient must have 
air (the air that comes in through the closet window 
from the fragrant banks of heaven — the atmosphere 
of prayer), and exercise — exercise unto good works; 
a deed of love ; a word of sympathy ; a helping hand 
stretched out ; a good, rapid walk to carry glad tidings 
to some one in sorrow. A little while and the pure 
air and brisk exercise will bring back the appetite 
to the cleansed system, and the soul will hunger, first 
for the sincere milk and then for the strong meat of 
the Word. 



U ART OF ENJOYING THE BIBLE. 

Finally, to enjoy the Bible one must know how to 
get at its contents. This I shall attempt to show in 
the chapters immediately following. 



II. 

GETTma EEADY. 



How to study the Bible is largely a question of 
preparation. One must have the proper means for 
getting at and appropriating the treasures of the 
Book. 

There are persons of unquestionable sincerity who 
shut their eyes to the meaning of many passages by 
deliberately ignoring all external aids to interpreta- 
tion. They tell us that the Bible interprets itself, or 
that the Holy Spirit will interpret it for them with- 
out the aid of secular and unhallowed learning. To 
say that one can understand the Bible without exter- 
nal aids is putting it a little stronger than the most 
enthusiastic hater of human learning would endorse 
after a moment's reflection. A knowledge of the Eng- 
lish language is an external aid, but it is generally 
acknowledged to be essential to the understanding of 
the English Bible. If our Father had the same opin- 
ion of human learning that some of his children ha^-e, 
no doubt he would have given u^ a book unencum- 

[15] 



16 ART OF ENJOriNG THE BIBLE. 

bered by any hmnan language whatsoeyer. If the Holy 
Spirit giyes us the ability to catch the meaning of a 
text without knowing anything of its form, there is 
no more reason why plain people should confine them- 
selyes to an English version than that they should 
read the Bible only in Syriac. There is no such thing 
as interpreting the Bible without outside helps. We 
haye this treasure in earthen vessels, and we must 
have regard for the vessels. And we must have re- 
gard for the Holy Spirit, who, whatever he may do 
for those who are too weak to do anything for them- 
selves, does not encourage laziness by doing for us 
that which we can do for ourselves. One might as 
well neglect to learn his letters in order to understand 
his Bible, as to neglect to secure all the information 
he can get from whatever source to enable him to 
understand the style and arrangement, the methods of 
thinking, the customs, surroundings and history which 
form the clothing or body of the Word. It is easy to 
believe that the "ignorant old woman in the lane" 
understands the Bible better than the greatest scient- 
ist living who is not on terms of friendship with its 
Author, but it is just as true that this old woman 
(who, by the way, we have not found to be as ignorant 
or feeble in intellect as she is painted, ) would be able 
to understand the Bible a great deal better if she had 
the equipment of the greatest scientist living in addi- 
tion to her own. 

A busy man will find in a teacher's Bible and a 



GETTING READY. 17 

good Bible dictionary all the helps that he is likely 
to find helpful. Indeed, there is hardly anything 
else one could ask for except a good commentary, 
which is a thing to be desired, provided one has the 
money to buy it, the time to use it, and the common 
sense not to abuse it. It is not every man that knows 
how to use a crutch. If you have a scholarly friend 
at your elbow, you will ask him one question to-day, 
two to-morroAv, three the next day, and it is only a 
question of time when he will be doing all your think- 
ing for you. A commentary often proves a very 
good thing in its place, but it should never be in a 
very convenient place. Its business is to help us 
when we have gone the full length of our rope, and 
if we go to it for help before we have done our level 
best we will soon be doing our level worst. Go to a 
commentary not for what you don't know, but for 
what you can't find out. 

One word of caution needs to be added. In con- 
sulting a commentary it is not enough to know of the 
author of the interpretation that he is pious, learned 
or brilliant. A man may have all of the qualifica- 
tions which these terms signify, and still be utterly 
incapable of finding the true meaning of a passage. 
It is this fact — or, rather the failure to recognize this 
fact — that causes so many people to be carried away 
by every wind of doctrine. A man with a clerical 
air comes along with a strange theory. People ask, 
"Is he smart?" "Is he scholarly?" '^ "Is he a good 

2 



18 ART OF ENJOYING THE BIBLE. 

man ?" And if they get satisfactory answers to each 
of these questions they are his. But it takes more 
than piety, brilliance, and learning to unlock the 
treasury of the Word. The distinguishing mark of 
the Bible is its perfect sanity. It is the sanest of all 
books. To interpret it one must have, whatever else 
he may have, a perfectly sane mind. The most ab- 
surd interpretations that have ever been placed upon 
the Scriptures have been made by men of undoubted 
brilliance and piety, who were sadly lacking in com- 
mon sense. When a man brings us a new interpre- 
tation we not only want to look at his heart, we want 
to look at his brain. Are there any indications of a 
loose screw ? Is he a little off ? Is his mental health 
unsound ? Such a man may interpret poetry for us, 
if he chooses to try, but we do not care to have him 
interpret our Bible for us, however pious or learned 
he may be. 

But it is one thing to o^vn helps and another to 
make them your own. Distribute a dozen saws 
among as many men, and in three minutes you will 
be able to put your finger on every mechanic in the 
group. A man and his tools fit. Distribute a dozen 
Bibles in a prayer meeting, and you will know in an 
instant who are Bible students. Some people's 
fingers are all thumbs the moment you put a Bible 
in their hands; others turn the leaves as if their 
fingers were attracted to the right text by magnetism. 
Have one Bible for your study and use no other. 



GETTING BEADY. 19 

Practice turning the leaves — one at a time, ten at a 
time, a hundred at a time. Continue the practice 
until you can find any book at the first turn, any 
chapter at the second, any verse at the third. In 
turning the leaves use the thumb and first finger. 
Turn at the top on the right hand, and at the bottom 
on the left hand, and never yield to the temptation to 
turn any other ^vay. Stick to these simple rules, and 
you will soon acquire such facility in the use of the 
Book itself that it will no longer be a trial to look up 
references, and you will thus get out of your way one 
of the most serious hindrances to the enjoyment of 
Bible stiidy. 

There is one important tool which the Bible stu- 
dent does not have to buy, and which is often over- 
looked on this account. I mean his brain. Like 
praying, like playing upon a musical instrument, like 
writing, to read the Bible with delight one must be 
in an electric condition of mind. You want a bright, 
fresh hour, when the brain is awake and the heart 
hungry. The man who never opens his Bible except 
at midnight when he is ready to drop from fatigue 
and drowsiness, simply sees the words on the page; 
they do not enter his mind. 

But the best material or intellectual preparation 
will not in the smallest degree make up for the lack 
of preparation of the heart — the spiritual instrument . 
with which we grasp the spiritual truths of the Word. 
The Bible is not an iron safe, to be opened by those 



W ART OF ENJOYING THE BIBLE. 

who are keen enoiigli to discover the combination ; it 
is rather a rare and delicate flower, that must have a 
certain atmosphere before it can be induced to unfold 
its petals and disclose its honey-cup and share with 
you its sweet perfume. The atmosphere of the Bible 
is the atmosphere of prayer. Or, to change the 
figure, the keynote of the Bible is the keynote of 
prayer. A great deal of time is wasted trying to 
catch the heavenly notes of the Book, when we are 
utterly unprepared to hear them. Ordinarily you 
cannot lay down a newspaper and enter at once into 
3^our Bible, for the simple reason that your heart- 
chords are not strung taut enough. The morning 
paper is tuned to the ordinary level of every-day life 
and thought, while the Bible is keyed up to a level 
with the thoughts which men think when they leave 
the busy street and go out upon some mountain-top 
and uncover their heads to the cooling breeze, and 
look up into the blue veil which separates the holy 
place into which they have entered from the Holy 
of Holies. It is not until we are in a condition to 
talk to God that we are in the best condition for God 
to talk to us. 

Besides, the Bible is the text-book of the Holy 
Spirit, and it can never be learned outside of his. 
school. We are children still, and we know not how 
to read unless the Teacher keeps his finger upon the 
words and prompts us when we fail to call them right. 

And so, if I had but ten minutes to read my Bible, 



GETTING READY. 21 

I would spend five getting ready. I would go off to 
some qniet spot — the same place every day, if possi- 
ble — the same place I go to when I would speak to 
God in prayer. I would shut the door on the world ; 
I would open the window toward heaven. Then I 
would be still. I would be still until every worldly 
thought took wings — until the brain ceased to whirl 
and the heart became as calm as a twilight hour. 
Then I would look up. I would look up until I was 
conscious of His presence — until I could almost feel 
the breath of His love fan my cheek. And then I 
would open my Bible and listen for the still, small 
voice of Him who neither strives nor cries, neither is 
His voice heard in the streets. 

^'But suppose you cannot reach this high pitch — 
what then ?" Tlien I ^vould open my Bible anyhow. 
The first few verses will be meaningless, but if I pull 
through them slowly, they may arouse me sufficiently 
to grasp those which follow. Sometimes they will 
not. Sometimes all methods will fail. Sometimes 
I would allow myself to be led by the impulse of the 
moment. I would dip here, there, any^vhere, trying 
to awaken my appetite. Even then I might fail. 
What of it ? Because I had no appetite at dinner 
yesterday, will I stay away from the table to-day ? 

SELECTED HINTS. 

Have your pen at hand, that you may note such 
references as occur to you in the margin, and that 



22 ART OF ENJOYING THE BIBLE. 

vou may be able to indicate any passage which has 
shone out like a star to your soul. I think I coull tell 
the history of my life in a series of verses, selected 
from every part of the Sacred Book, which have been 
ray beacon-lights all along its course. — F. B. Meyer. 

You should have a blank-book in which to enter 
the results of your study. I do not advise any sys- 
tem of Bible-marking. Keep your Bible clean to ex- 
press to you God's thoughts, not to serve as a journal, 
or a diary of your own. The best blank-book for 
library purposes is an interleaved Bible ; the best for 
use in the class is a little blank-book to be carried in 
the pocket; better than either is a combination — a 
small blank-book to jot down the thought at the mo- 
ment; to serve as the merchant's day-book and an 
Index Kerum or an interleaved Bible, into which 
these thoughts are transferred from time to time ; to 
serve as the merchant's journal and ledger. — Lyman 
Ahhott. 

Inspired men only know how to read inspired 
books. The best commentary on the Bible is a devout 
and ecstatic soul. The mere scholar may read the 
letter; the saint detects the inner spirit. ^'Spiritual 
things are spiritually discerned." — Zions Herald. 

Another invaluable aid is meditation. Secular 
study demands active exercise. God in infinite love 
has so arranged that in Christian study hours of quiet 
meditation are as necessary as those of active brain 



GETTING READY. 2S 

labor. There are times when you will learn faster 
by being still than any other way. — Anon. 

The foUoAving list of commentaries was prepared 
by Professor Townsend for the Bible Reader's Guide : ' 

In the way of lifting Bible facts and characters 
into the realm of reality, Dean Stanley's ^'Sinai and 
Palestine" and "Lectures Upon Jewish History/' 
"The Life and Epistles of St. Paul" by Conybeare 
and Howison, Van Lennep's "Bible Lands/' Geikie's 
"Holy Land and the Bible/' and Thompson's "The 
Land and the Book/' are invaluable, ^o commenta- 
tor surpasses Bengel in the power of condensation and 
perspicuity. His parallel references are unrivalled. 

We are safe in saying that for critical and gram- 
matical accuracy no conmientaries quite equal those 
of Charles J. EUicott. 

The established canons of interpretation are to be 
found in Home's "Introduction'^ (Vol. II.) and in 
Immer's "Hermeneutics." 

Trench, better than any other writer, will aid you 
in the exposition of the parables and miracles. 

Oriella, in the field of prophecy, will be of great 
service. 

Pairbairn is the best guide in the typology of the 
Scriptures. 

Dr. Murphy's commentaries are well up in modern 
science, and are especially valuable as an antidote 
to the destructive criticism on the Pentateuch. They 



U ART OF ENJOYING THE BIBLE. 

are to be prized also for the accuracy of their transla- 
tions. 

The Book of Job has no commentator quite equal 
to Thomas Wemyss. 

Henderson on the Minor Prophets ought to be 
used. 

The Calvinistic student cannot dispense with the 
commentaries of Moses Stuart, nor can the Arminian 
student well do without the commentaries of Dr. 
Wheedon. Perhaps no Bible student in these times 
should be without both Stuart and Delitzch on He- 
brews. The logical and philosophical methods of in- 
vestigation employed by Stuart are almost a marvel. 

The spirituality found in Matthew Henry's com- 
mentary makes it of great value. 

The sermons of F. Robertson on Corinthians are 
excellent expositions. 



HI. 
MAKJSTER OF APPROACH. 



The Bible is like most of its readers in that what 
you get out of it depends largely niDon how yon ap- 
proach it. It is not abnormally sensitive; it does 
not put on airs; it is not a stickler for etiquette; it 
does not draw back from a browned hand, nor shud- 
der at an awkward bow or a rhetorical blunder. But 
it does require that the man to whom it is to open 
its heart shall approach it in a becoming manner, and 
with a spirit at one with its own. 

Disregard of this requirement is at the bottom of 
nearly all failures in Bible study, and is the secret 
of all destructive criticism. Men have gone to the 
Bible as they would to an ordinary book, and found 
only an ordinary book. The Bible cannot prevent us 
from cataloguing it with other books, but we suffer 
the penalty of being denied a glimpse of its deeper 
treasures. It does not reveal to us more than we are 
r.?ady to admit that it possesses. 

The destructive critic laughs to scorn the claim that 
[25] 



26 ART OF ENJOYING THE BIBLE. 

the Bible should not be approached as an ordinary 
book, as if inimnnitj were claimed for it on account 
of its sacred associations or its supernatural origin. 
But it is not immunity that is asked ; it is simply the 
demand that a flower shall be examined on its own soil 
and in its own congenial climate. It is the claim 
which the critic himself makes for certain books 
which he has found to appeal to his higher nature im- 
der peculiar conditions. Every one knows that there 
are books which yield nothing to the highest intellec- 
tual skill, but open their treasures without coaxing to 
a great spirit. The best equipped scholar in the 
world, if lacking in certain traits of character, might 
honey-comb our greatest poems without finding their 
holy of holies. There are books on w^hich the humble 
feed every day, which have not so much as a crumb 
for the haughty spirit. Surely w^hat we ask, and 
wliat is readily granted for these books which appeal 
to our better nature, is not too much to ask for the 
Book which is the mother of them all. 

If the Bible is to open its heart to us, we must 
approach it with sincerity and earnestness of pur- 
pose. We do not trouble ourselves to talk with a man 
whose sincerity we question and whose purpose is not 
clear. We will tell him the time of day, or show him 
on his way, as far as we are going; but we will not 
open our heart to him. We do not cast our pearls 
before swine; neither do we care to show them to 
men who want to dispute their purity, or who, incapa- 



MANNER OF APPROACH. ^ 

ble of appreciating them, are moved solely by curi- 
osity. 

The Bible is not a book of facts, though it teems 
Avith them. It is a book of wisdom. It was not writ- 
ien that we might know, in order to be knowing, but 
that we might know, in order to be doing. It was not 
the intention of its Author to teach geography or 
rhetoric, but to teach those triiths which impel and 
guide men to him. That these truths should be 
clothed in the forms in which we find them means 
nothing more than that God found it best to clothe 
them as we find them. The man who goes to the' 
Book impelled only by curiosity finds little except 
curiosities, and some things to excite his curiosity 
without gratifying it. It is the most annoying book 
in the world to a purely curious mind, l^ot curiosity 
to know, but a desire for wisdom, opens the way to 
the Book, The key to the will of God is an earnest 
purpose to do that will when it shall be known. We 
must read it with a willing spirit, ready to do what 
Ave find commanded therein; a spirit that will not 
reject its mysteries nor stumble at its obscurities. 

But it is not enough to have the sincerity of a wis- 
dom seeker ; we must have his humble spirit. Con- 
ceit cements the brain box. Presumption is an im- 
passable gulf between the pupil and his book. The 
Bible docs not trouble itself about the man who 



mows. 



Finally, we must approach the Book with rever- 



S8 ART OF ENJOYING THE BIBLE. 

ence. I do not mean that the Bible should be re- 
garded as the symbol of Jehovah's presence, but that 
v/hen we open it we should have a profound sense of 
respect, mingled with awe, for the word that it speaks 
to us. The tendency of the age is toward a too great 
familiarity with sacred things — ^not that we know 
ihem too well, but that we treat them with too great 
familiarity. The bump of reverence, which was so 
carefully cultivated by our fathers, has been neglected 
so long that it is hardly noticeable on our o^vn crowns, 
while in the heads of some of our children the spot 
is marked by a decided depression. It has paid the 
penalty of disuse. Our greatest need in religious 
training is reverence. Every teacher feels it. God 
himself recognized it, and would not attempt to teach 
Israel until he had filled their hearts with awe. For 
centuries, whenever he would speak to men, he first 
gave them a lesson in reverence, and then taught 
them. If they did not reverence him they would not 
reverence his word. In every age the deep things of 
God have been hidden from the haughty and revealed 
to those who waited reverently before him. The dis- 
ciples sat at Jesus' feet and were fed ; the Pharisees, 
too proud to do him reverence, went away empty. It 
is when we approach the Book with a feeling of high 
regard for its word as the word of God, and with 
sincere and humble hearts as little children, that it 
opens its heart wide to us, and the things which were 



MANNER OF APPROACH. 29 

hidden from the wise and prudent are revealed unto 
babes. 

If you have a letter from your father, and you are 
in a critical mood, you will not enjoy it — you will 
see too many flaws in it. If you are in an irreverent 
mood, you will not enjoy it — his words of counsel will 
bore you. If you are in an impatient mood you will 
not enjoy it — his lines will be tedious. But if your 
heart is full of love, and reverence and gratitude, you 
will read his letter with joy, even if it is not dated, 
even if the style is antiquated, even if it is full of 
repetitions, if the sentences are involved, if the news 
is old, if every word has the palsy. To enjoy the 
Bible, you must open it as a letter from your Father. 



IV. 
THE MATTEE OF METHOD. 



If the heart has been tuned to the proper pitch one 
will hardly read the Bible without a degree of enjoy- 
ment, whatever method one may adopt. But the only 
right way to do a thing is the best way. A great 
many people stumble along through the Bible as they 
stumble along through the world, and manage to get 
a living for their souls out of the one just as they 
manage to get a living for their bodies out of the 
other; but in either case it is a scant living which 
might be greatly improved by substituting a method 
for their stumbling. 

1. In choosing a method one should first of all 
see to it that it is not made of cast-iron. Many a man 
has earnestly and persistently tried to become inte- 
rested in the Bible and has failed simply because he 
has tried to adjust himself to a method instead of ad- 
justing a method to himself. There are certain lines 
common to all dress coats, but no tailor can make 
a coat to fit all men. Our methods, like our coats, 
must be cut to fit. 

[31] 



32 ART OF ENJOYING THE BIBLE. 

2. Again, one should choose a method with utter 
indifference as to its age. A method is not good be- 
cause it is new nor musty because it is old. Neither 
is the old-fashioned way good enough for us because 
it is the old-fashioned way. Every method must 
stand on its own merits, not on its years. Grand- 
father's sword may be eaten through with rust. Do 
not carry it into battle. But if it is a tried and true 
Damascus blade, it should not be discarded for one 
of your modern make that may be as brittle as it is 
bright. 

It is a grooving habit among Bible students to speak 
lightly of what they are pleased to term the old fogy 
way of reading the Bible. Bible study is a very dif- 
ferent thing from Bible reading, they tell us. 

We are well aware of the fact, but we are not quite 
sure, after all, that this difference is greatly to the 
discredit of the old fogy method. There is a grow- 
ing doubt in many minds whether our modern 
methods are yielding the good results which their 
advocates have claimed for them. Indeed, it remains 
yet to be proven of many of these methods that they 
are in any way worthy to take the place of the simple 
customs of our fathers. 

Whatever may be said to the discredit of the old 
method, certain significant facts remain unques- 
tioned : 

Our fathers read the Book reverently. If they 
learned less about sacred things than their children 



TEE MATTER OF METHOD. 33 

thej never learned to speak flippantly of the little 
they knew. 

They read it devotionally. If they did not know 
the geography of Canaan, they were never at a loss 
to tell you the way to the better country ; and if they 
were behind the times in natural history, they were 
not unfamiliar with every stage of the soul's progress. 

They read it unquestioningly. If they got less 
out of it than the children in our primary classes, as 
is claimed, they never got anything out of it about 
which they ever had a shadow of a doubt. 

They read it for food. They knew nothing of our 
system of Scriptural gymnastics by which we develop 
our minds, and they gave all the meat they found to 
their souls. 

Thus devouring the Book day after day, chapter 
after chapter, regardless of chronology, vowel points, 
"the composite character of the Pentateuch," or the 
cimeiform inscriptions, they filled their souls up to 
the brim with the sincere milk and strong meat of 
tlie Word, and steadily grew up a sturdy race of giant 
spirits, such as the world to-day looks for in vain. 

With all the good things to be said of our modern 
methods it must be confessed that much of our work 
is painfully superficial, and that in many instances 
we fail altogether of the spiritual harvest, which is 
the one legitimate aim we have in searching the Scrip- 
tures. 

3. Whatever the method, it should be comprehen- 
3 



S4 ART OF ENJOYING THE BIBLE. 

sive. The sixty-six books of the Bible are not so 
many independent books in a library, but rather they 
are members of one body. We can learn a great deal 
about the human body by dissecting an arm to-day 
and a leg to-morrow, but we will never know what a 
human body is until we have studied the several parts 
as parts of a whole. There are a great many people 
who love the Bible — in spots. Here and there are 
chapters to which their hearts respond, and they have 
confined their reading so entirely to these chapters 
that their Bibles will open nowhere else. There is 
no harm in having one's favorite chapters, but the 
danger in reading the Bible in spots is that it fails to 
furnish a sufficient variety of food to develop a 
rounded character. The whole Book reveals the 
whole will of God and touches the whole life of man, 
but a single chapter does not. A man who was on 
bad terms with a neighbor happened upon a text 
which seemed to justify his enmity. It was pleasant 
to his palate and set him to searching for parallel 
passages. In a little while he had narrowed his 
reading down to the imprecatory Psalms, and now 
he honestly believes that the hating of one's enemies 
is a pious duty. 

4. It is a poor method of study that does not go 
to the bottom of a thing. The Bible is a mine, rather 
than a garden. It needs tunneling, not cultivating ; 
pick-axe and fuse, not rake and watering-pot. A 
garden carries its treasures upon the surface, or near 



TEE MATTER OF METHOD. 35 

enongli to be reached with a hoe ; a mine leaves a few 
nuggets outside to advertise the rich veins that lie 
beneath tons of rock. 

A great many people go gardening in the Bible. 
Thev scratch a bit here and there and drop the rake 
to pluck a beautifiil flower or a cluster of luscious 
fruit. They belong to the esthetic corps of the army. 
They adore the poetry of the Bible ; they delight in 
the exquisite w^ord-painting of the prophets ; they are 
ravished by the harp and voice of the sweet singer of 
Israel. And thus they saunter along the shady 
avenues of the Word, drinking in the perfume of 
flowers and the music of fountains and birds, and 
indulging their tastes to satiety in the vain delusion 
that they are feeding their souls. It can hardly be 
expected that the rank and file of God's army, that 
prefers pork to poetry, will fall in love with the Bible 
while following in the wake of the esthetic corps. 

The Bible handles things without gloves, and asks 
to be handled in the same way. The study of the 
Bible means coat off and sleeves rolled up. It means 
perspiration. It means a pick-axe of perseverance; 
a fuse of faith ; a match of prayer. 

5. One's method should have in view the prac- 
tical uses of the riches that may be obtained. We 
hear much nowadays of the value of studying the 
Bible for its own sake. It is well enough, I sup- 
pose — certainly it is scientific — but a hungry man 
does not investigate a loaf of bread for its own sake. 



36 ART OF ENJOYING THE BIBLE, 

He investigates it for his own sake. The beauty of 
the material and the art of the cook are worthy of 
admiration and study when his hunger has been satis- 
fied. It is hardly time to look for beauty when we 
are in need of bread. 

The Bible is for use, not for admiration. We do 
not save life by complimenting the cook, but by eating 
his bread, which is, after all, the best compliment we 
can give him. Every chapter, every verse, every 
word should be introduced by the question, What is 
this to me? What use can I make of it? Indeed 
we would not go very far wrong — though we would 
be very unscientific — if we should walk in the foot- 
steps of our fathers, who, in following the children 
of Israel in their wanderings through the wilderness, 
would stop along the way to ejaculate: "l^ow this 
is just like me." ^^'Now, here is a warning to me !" 
"^ow, how this fits my own case !" "JSTow, just see 
how God is writing my own history!" 

Make use of the Book. Don't study Abraham in 
order to stir up an admiration over Abraham's char- 
acter, but to get more of Abraham's faith. Don't 
study Joseph that you may compare him with a 
modern grain speculator, but that you may know how 
to overcome as he overcame. The man who studies 
the gospels to admire the life of Christ does nothing 
more than half the infidels in all ages have done. 

We cannot lay too much stress on this point. The 
Bible is a personal message. It speaks to a congrega- 



THIl MATTER OF METHOD. 37 

tion of one. It is not concerned about reaching the 
masses or the classes ; it is after the individual. The 
right way to read the Bible is the selfish way. Some 
people shove Genesis off on the antedeluvians, Exodus 
off on the Egyptians, Jonah off on the Mnevites, 
nine-tenths of the remainder off on the Jews, retain- 
ing for their own portion the twenty-third Psalm and 
a few other passages that "never say a harm word 
about anybody.'' 

There is hardly a chapter in the Book without its 
personal message to the reader. If Moses is talking 
to Pharaoh, there is plenty of Pharaoh-spirit in us 
to take every word to heart. If he is talking to the 
Israelites he hits us so close that we almost expect to 
hear our names called. We cannot put ourselves in 
the place of any man to whom God has spoken with- 
out having his words burn their way into our hearts. 

SELECTED HINTS. 

Do not trammel yourself with the legalism of read- 
ing a certain amount. What you want is the growth 
of your soul, not bolting of quantity. If you find a 
verse very juicy, stop and enjoy it for a half -hour. 
Illustrate it in your own life and experience. That 
one verse may run into every corner of your being, 
and do you more good than twenty chapters. At an- 
other time the historical connection, or other interest, 
may lead you to read page after page. Any rule 
about quantity is a bad rule. — Howard Crosby. 



'B8 ART OP E^JOrrNO TBE BIBLE. 

"liUther," sajs Mr. Stewart, "used to teach his chil- 
dren to read the Bible in the following way : First, 
to read through one book carefully, then to study 
chapter by chapter, and then verse by verse, and 
lastly, word by word ; for, he said, it is like a person 
shaking a fruit tree. First shaking the tree and 
gathering up the fruit which falls to the ground ; and 
then shaking each branch, and afterward each twig 
of the branch, and last of all looking under each leaf 
to see that no fruit remains." 

!N'ever close the book until you feel that you are 
carrying away your portion of meat from that hand 
which satisfieth the desire of every living thing. It 
is well sometimes to stop reading and seriously ask, 
What does the Holy Spirit mean me to learn by this ? 
What bearing should this have on my life ? How can 
I work this into the fabric of my character ? — Rev. F. 
B. Meyer. 

When you read your Bible, be sure you hunt for 
something. Eead this same chapter over and over 
again till you understand it. We would add, make 
yourself thoroughly familiar with St. PauFs epistles. 
They are the key to all the Holy Scriptures. — Anon. 

For some time it may be profitable to read almost 
exclusively the portions of the Bible which you can 
turn to immediate account. Critical matters must be 
left to critics. It is so in science. A man does not 
necessarily know his own physiology, yet he eats and 
drinks and in various ways cultivates his strength. 



THE MATTER OF METHOD. 39 

Do jon the same with the Bible. Leave scholarly 
questions to scholarly minds, and remember that God 
requires from you to do justly, love mercy, and walk 
humbly with himself. It will be easy to find enough 
in the Bible for the soul to live upon if the soul really 
wants to live.^ — Anon. 

1. Bead the Bible from the end to the beginning. 
Bead from Christ to Moses. If we were reading for 
merely literary purposes, we should reverse the pro- 
cess. Fill the mind thoroughly with the spirit of 
Christ — "let the word of Christ dwell in you 
richly'- — then go back with all Christ's light to help 
you through the twilight and occasional darkness of 
the earlier reading. By neglecting this process many 
have lost what little faith they had. 2. Bead the 
Bible from the beginning to the end. You now have 
the light in hand. You know to what issue all is 
tending. You can mark the evolution phase by 
phase. — Dr. Joseph Parher. 

The common-sense way of studying an ordinary 
book is to read it, and keep on reading it until it is 
mastered. And surely the Bible is an ordinary book, 
in the sense that it was intended for ordinary people, 
to be read and apprehended by the average conunon 
run of mankind. — John Gray. 

While reading for devotion you should look for 
passages according with your spiritual needs. A 
person as wisely might go into a restaurant without 
regard to his appetite, and call for articles of food at 



40 ART OF ENJOYING THE BIBLE. 

random, or tell the waiter to bring anything he 
pleases : or into the drugstore and drink from the first 
medicine bottle, as to use the Bible for devotional pur- 
poses in the way that many do. They know that they 
ought to read the Bible, and without thought they 
read either by course or at random. Far better 
would it be to spend the time searching for what the 
so'ii feels the need of, if it were only one verse, than 
to read thirty merely for the purpose of going through 
so much Bible. — N. Y. Christian Advocate. 

In an article in the ^^Golden Rule" Mr. Moody sug- 
gests that the simi:)lest w^ay to mark one's Bible is to 
under-line the words, or to make a stroke along side 
the verse. Another good way is to go over the 
printed letters with your pen, and make them thicker. 
The word will then stand out like heavier type. 
When any word or phrase is often repeated in a book 
or chapter, put consecutive numbers in the margin 
over against each text. Put a cross in the margin 
against things not generally observed. E^ever mark 
anything because you saw it in the Bible of some one 
else. If it does not come home to you, if you do not 
imderstand it, do not put it down, l^ever pass a 
nugget without trying to grasp it. Then mark it 
down. 

There is still another way. The Bible is to fur- 
nish us daily bread. We need a portion for each 
day. Though we may read several chapters in the 
morning, it is well for us to have a single verse, or 



THE MATTER OF METHOD. 41 

a brief passage to take into our thought for the day's 
pondering. For example, my verse yesterday was, 
"Tarry ye here, and watch with me." Through all 
the hours, as I went about my tasks, my mind turned 
again and again to this word of Christ. I thought 
of what it meant first in the heart of Jesus, as he 
craved the sympatliy of his friends as he agonized 
in the garden. This gave me a sweet suggestion 
about the humanity of Jesus. Then I thought of 
what He means by it now when he asks us to watch 
with him. Again, I thought of the need our friends 
oft-times have of our waking sympathy, and that 
there is a time when, if at all, this sympathy must 
be shown; that when this time is past, if we have 
only slept we may as well sleep on. A word taken 
thus every day and meditated upon through the busy 
hours, and when we are on our bed, cannot but give 
its rich spiritual help and nourishment to the soul. — 
J. R. Miller. 



V. 

readi:ntg the bible by books. 



There are two methods of Bible study which, taken 
together, meet all the needs of the general reader. 
These are popularly known as the "book method" and 
the "topical method.'' If your purpose is to learn 
the whole will of God concerning yourself — and this 
will be your ordinary, every-day purpose — you should 
read the Bible by books. If you should desire to find 
out the will of God on a particular point you will 
have use for the topical method. 

In reading the Bible by books I would not read 
the books consecutively. You want elasticity in your 
methods — room for moods, room for the Holy Spirit's 
guidance. If you begin at Genesis with the inten- 
tion of reading straight through to Revelation, there 
will be times when you will be dragging through Job, 
when you ought to be in John; through Chronicles 
when you ought to be in Corinthians; through the 
Lamentations of Jeremiah when you ought to be sing- 
ing the Psalms of David. I would not adopt a cast- 

[43] 



44 ART OF ENJOYING THE BIBLE. 

iron plan that would keep me for days spelling out 
the hard names in E^umbers when my heart is hungry 
for the fourteenth of John. Again, while the Bible 
is good all the way through, it is a rank superstition 
to suppose that all parts of it are equally good for all 
people under all circumstances. Ecclesiastes is a 
healthful curb for youthful ambition, but it is not 
the best companion for melancholy. Canticles and 
Ruth yield precious lessons to the spiritual, but we 
would not put them in the hands of a hot-blooded boy 
to read alone. Matthew, Mark and Luke are good 
for everybody, but only those who have taken some 
steps in the way of grace can appreciate John. A 
good plan is to study a book in the historical part of 
the Old Testament, then a book in the I^ew Testa- 
ment, then one of the prophets, thus keeping in touch 
with every part of the Bible. But one should make 
the choice of a book a matter of thought and prayer. 
Try to secure the Holy Spirit's leading and then look 
in your heart and choose the book it is hungry for. 

When you have selected a book turn to your Bible 
dictionary, and learn what you may find concerning 
the date, authorship and general purpose of the book. 
Then begin at the beginning and turn the pages 
slowly and read the chapter headings — bearing in 
mind that these chapter headings are not inspired, 
and are not infallible. Turn back and read the book 
through rapidly at a sitting to catch the general drift. 
If, after this reading, the outlines are indistinct read 



READING THE BIBLE BY BOOKS. 45 

it again. (Do not be frightened at the idea of read- 
ing a book through at a sitting. It takes just fifty 
minutes to read Job, an hour and a half for Genesis, 
an hour for Matthew, and you can read all three of 
the epistles of John in seven minutes.) ^Now go back 
and read the book carefully, trying to grasp its orig- 
nal meaning. Keep a pencil in hand and mark every 
word that you need to look up. When you have fin- 
ished go back and look up every word marked. For 
this work all that you will need is a Bible dictionary, 
and the helps contained in this Bible. Make use of 
the maps. Getting at the geographical situation 
helps to make the story real. When you have looked 
up all the marked words give the book another read- 
ing, looking lip the marginal references. If there 
is time for more thorough study the book should then 
be taken up by chapters. In the study of a chapter 
one should first make an outline of the material, then 
study the difficult words and phrases, the connections 
of thought, the historical points, the geographical 
points, manners and customs, and the principal truths 
taught. 

Finally, read the book tlirough devotionally. This 
reading is the most important of all: indeed with- 
out it the preceding readings would hardly be 
worth the while. One may get the essence of a 
book while engaged in the study of its structure, 
but it is not the study of its structure that puts one 
in possession of its essence. One may find use for a 



4S ART OF ENJOYING THE BIBLE. 

knife in preparing food for eating, but one does not 
eat with his knife, though some good men have been 
accused of eating from it. After the food has been 
prepared it must be eaten, and that is an altogether 
different matter. We have come to recognize this 
truth in the study of literature in the schools, and it 
is not an uncommon thing nowadays for a teacher 
to say to his pupils after a critical study of one of 
Shakespeare's plays that they are now ready to begin 
to learn the play, and that the best way to get at its 
essence is for the pupil to go off to some quiet spot 
where he can read it over and over without interrup- 
tion, and simply drink it in. But when we come to 
the study of the Bible the tendency is to make much 
of the analytical method, and little or nothing of the 
art of absorption. We are satisfied if we succeed in 
analyzing our orange though all the juice drips 
through our fingers! 

The art of getting at the truth of the Word by ab- 
sorption depends upon two things — namely, absorp- 
tiveness and sustained contact. Absorptiveness im- 
plies, among other things, open pores. If we are to 
absorb the truth of a particular book of the Bible we 
must open every pore to it. This means more than 
merely opening the mind to accept the facts of the 
book. Truth is the guest of the heart. The mind 
may be open to the facts, while the heart is barred 
against the truth. Even the desire to know the truth 
does not imply a heart open to it. When we are per- 



BEADING THE BIBLE B7 BOOKS. 47 

sonally interested in learning the will of God, and 
not until then, is every pore of our being open to his 
Word . 

Another condition of absorptiveness is room within. 
To be full of the world is to remain empty of the 
Word. One who comes to his Bible with mind and 
heart overloaded with worldly cares cannot absorb 
the Word, however willing he may be to receive it. A 
sponge is fond of pure water, but if it is full of muddy 
water it must be squeezed out before it can get what 
it likes. There is such a thing as sitting still before 
one's open Bible, when one has just come from the 
whirl of the world, and taking the overloaded mind 
and heart in hand, and slowly squeezing them out 
until they are in a condition to drink in the pure 
water from the living fountain. 

But every pore may be open to the Word, and 
there may be unlimited room for it within, and we 
will get nothing if the mind and heart are not brought 
in contact with the Book and held there. Going 
through a chapter for names, events or the thread of 
Ji story, is like passing a dry sponge lightly over the 
surface of a thick liquid. Important as the process 
may be, it is not a process of absorption. To absorb 
the Word one needs to lay the mind close up against 
it and hold it there. (The sponge is an imperfect 
illustration, and is used only because it is handy. 
We do not absorb the Word as a sponge takes up 
water, but rather as the linings of the organs of di- 



48 ART OF ENJOYING THE BIBLE. 

gestion take up fluids and carry them into the circu- 
lation. ) 

A minister who was spending his vacation in the 
country, took his Bible one afternoon, and, strolling 
off to the farther edge of a wood, lay down at the foot 
of a great oak. For some time he watched the slowly 
moving bits of fleece which flecked the blue sky, until 
all the world and its cares had silently slipped from 
his mind and left it empty. Then he opened his 
Bible and read one of the shorter epistles. There 
was a freshness about it which he had not noticed 
before, and he read it again. Again and again he 
read it, each time drinking in more and more of its 
spirit, until he was fairly intoxicated with the abund- 
ance of the revelations. It was a new and wonderful 
experience. The very pages of the Book were trans- 
figured before him. 

If you should receive an important letter contain- 
ing many pages on many subjects of which you had 
never heard, all written in an obscure hand and in an 
obscure style, you would lay it aside until you could 
have a quiet hour to unravel it. Then you would 
read it over and over and over. By and by you would 
begin to get into the spirit of the writer and gradually 
the light would come to you. You would read it 
again and other obscure points would be cleared up. 
And after you had read it for the twentieth time what 
was all senseless jargon would become plain, and you 
would exclaim, "Kow I have it!" And then you 



READING THE BIBLE BY BOOKS. 49 

^vould read it again, just to see how plain some things 
are that appeared so obscure at first. There is no 
better way to read the sixty-six important letters 
which form the Holy Scriptures. 

SELECTED HINTS. 

The first step to take is a thoughtful reading. If 
possible, the book should be read at a sitting, the gen- 
eral impression of its theme and substance thus made 
being considered and written down, read through at 
a sitting once more, the impression corrected, and 
so on, until a fairly well-defined notion of the book 
as a whole has been formed. The nature of the im- 
pression expected will vary with the book selected. 
In a history one might determine the point of view 
of the compiler ; in a gospel ^^the leading ideas" ; in 
an epistle, the ^'keynote." In each case the student 
would record no more than his impression. — Prof. F. 
K. Sanders, in S. 8. Times. 

To be truly interested in the Bible one needs to read 
a given book not only continuously and repeatedly, 
but prayerfully. In this the Bible differs from every 
other book. No one presumably is so well able to 
awaken interest in a book and make its understand- 
ing plain, as its author. The Holy Spirit wrote the 
Bible, and He only can interpret it aright and cause 
you to feel a love for it. Take Him into your con- 
fidence as you begin to read. — Dr. J. M. Gray. 

There is doubtless what we may term the one great 
4 



50 ART OF ENJOYING THE BIBLE. 

central idea or purpose which belongs to each book 
of the Bible. Each one was written for a specific 
purpose. The first and most important thing, there- 
fore, is to ascertain the central idea of each book in 
the Bible — why it was written, by whom, and to whom 
it was written. After we know the central idea of 
each book, its specific purpose, its generic idea, then 
we are prepared to descend from general ideas to par- 
ticular truths, to analyze the book and study its va- 
rious parts. — E. R. Williams. 

Study the Book to find the historical sense : that is, 
the sense in which the language was used at the time 
it was uttered or written. — Dr. Riddle. 

The distinguished philosopher, John Locke, tells 
us his experience in studying the epistles of St. Paul. 
For a long time he would read a chapter one day and 
another chapter the next day, and so on, consulting 
commentaries upon the difficult passages. But this 
did not satisfy his great mind. ^^I saw plainly," he 
tells us, "after I began once to reflect on it, that if 
any one should now write me a letter as long as St. 
Paul's Epistle to the Romans, concerning such a mat- 
ter as that is, in a style as foreign, and expressions as 
difiicult to understand as some of his seem to be, if 
I should divide it into fifteen or sixteen chapters and 
read one of them to-day and another to-morrow, etc., 
it was ten to one I should never come to a clear and 
full comprehension of it. The way to understand 
the mind of him that wrote it every one would agree, 



READING THE BIBLE BT BOOKS, 51 

was to read the whole letter through from one end to 
the other all at once, to see what was the main subject 
and tendency of it." 

The following suggestions are from Elnathan Parr, 
a writer of the seventeenth century : "First. What 
booke soever we take to read, to begin at the begin- 
ning, and so continue reading till wee come to the end 
of it. xind thus shall wee carry the summe and the 
drift of the History and argument before us; of 
which in a great part, they which read now a chapter 
in one booke, now a leaf in another, must needs be 
ignorant. Such simple Readers I may liken to those 
simple women, which are alwayes reading, but are 
never able to come to any sound knowledge of the 
truth. Eor as hee that goeth but an easy pace in the 
right way, speedeth his journey faster than hee that 
maketh more haste in the wrong way. Even so a 
little read in a good order, advantageth the knowledge 
more than greater paines, if it be confused. Second. 
T would advise, that in our reading, we begin first 
with easiest and plainest Books, as the History of 
Christ, set downe by the evangelists, and the Booke 
of Genesis ; then to reade the Epistles, first the short- 
est, as the Epistles to the Philippians; Colossians, 
the first and second to the Thessalonians ; then the 
Epistles to the Galatians, and to the Romans, which 
last Epistle is called of some, the Key of the Bible. 
And when we have tryed ourselves in these, then to 
begin the Bible and to read it through. Eor even as 



62 ART OP ENJOYING THE BIBLE. 

in Trades there are some things more easie, to the 
which the apprentice is applied; and afterwards as 
he groweth in capacity, hee is taught the harder and 
more secret things of his mystery; so in the Scrip- 
tures, there are some things easie and familiar for 
learners and beginners, as milke for babes ; and there 
are other things, which it is not safe to meddle with- 
all, till we have onr sences well exercised in the 
Word." 

The Bible was built up book-wise. It is the law 
of its structure. The first rule of any kind of objec- 
tive study is, obey the law of the structure. A 
crystal is not built like an apple, nor an apple like 
an orange, nor an orange like a tree. So the Bible, 
being one book made up of many books, is to be 
studied book by book. That is the analytic way. 
And within the books themselves are lines of cleavage 
which yield a secondary analysis into sections; and 
these again fall into parts. The ideas of the books 
are thus arranged by the Spirit, and we do well to 
observe that arrangement. — Dr. Schofield. 

Study the circumstances in which a book was 
w^ritten. Consider the relation of a given paragraph 
to the whole book. Study the meaning of particular 
words or phrases. Examine other statements of the 
same writer on the topic treated in a given passage. 
Begin with the plainer passages, reserving the more 
obscure ones until greater skill is acquired. Kemem- 



READING THE BIBLE B7 BOOKS. 53 

ber the responsibility that attends the right of private 
judgment. — A. Sims. 

Read the book through again and again at a single' 
sitting. Ask, Who wrote the book ? To whom was 
it wTitten? When was it written? Where was it 
written? Immediate occasion of writing? Pur- 
pose of writing ? Circumstances of the author when 
he wrote the book ? Circumstances of those to whom 
he wrote? Glimpses into the life and character of 
the author. Leading ideas in the book ? Central 
thought of the book ? Divide the book into sections, 
and name them. Study verse by verse in order. Get 
the exact meaning of each word, studying its usage. 
Study the context. Study parallel passages. Ana- 
lyze the verse. Put nothing into the analysis not 
really in the verse, and get out of the verse all that 
really is in it. State results accurately. When 
analysis is complete classify results. — Rev. B. A. 
Torrey. 

A good way to read a book is to read it in connec- 
tion with a related book. Each throws light upon 
the other, and each helps to press home the truth of 
the other. For example, w^hen we turn from the life 
of Solomon to the book of Proverbs we find that the 
moral teachings of the book have a deeper significance 
in the light of the life we have been studying, and 
when we turn back to that life we find it invested 
with a new interest. — P. 

The Bible seems dull to you, or at least you can- 



54 ART OF ENJOYING THE BIBLE. 

not find the interest in it that some people find in its 
pages. Perhaps if yon knew Christ better it wonld 
be different. If yon only remembered that He — 
your dearest and best friend — is the author of the 
book, its words would have new meanings to you. 
Begin with the Gospels. They tell the story of the 
life of Christ. You find in them a great many of 
his OAvn words ; as you read the pages, think of what 
Jesus is to you. Eead as you would read a letter 
written to you by your mother, or a book which told 
you about your father's life. Love will change all" 
and give a personal interest to every sentence. — Dr, 
J. B. Miller. 

Hebrews should be read in connection with the 
Epistle to the Komans, the book of Leviticus, and 
portions of the books of Exodus and Joshua. This 
book is a masterly supplement to the Epistle to the 
Romans and Galatians, also a luminous commentary 
on them, showing that all the legal dispensation was 
originally designed to be superseded by the new and 
better covenant of the Christian dispensation, in a 
connected chain of argument, evincing the profound- 
est knowledge of both. — A. Sims. 



YI. 
m KEADIISTG PAKTICULAR BOOKS. 



GENESIS. 



A glance at tlie first chapter tells you what it is 
about. That is all you want to give any of the chap- 
ters just now. Turn the leaves slowly and try to 
catch the drift. Look for the important divisions, 
and when you find them set them down on paper. 
WTien you have done this you will find that the book 
is divided into three parts: (1) God made man. (2) 
Man fell. (3) God set to work to redeem him. 'Now 
go back to the beginning. You want to learn all 
about God's making man, how he did it and what 
sort of man he was. Read from the first verse of the 
first chapter slowly with pencil in hand. When you 
come to an obscure point mark it and read on. Don't 
stop to look it up. Keep your mind on the main 
lines and make all things bend to them. This ac- 
count of the creation of the world means nothing but 
that God is preparing a temporary home — a training 
home for the man he is to make. That story about 

[55] 



66 ART OF ENJOYING THE BIBLE. 

Joseph is put there to show the hand of God in work- 
ing out his plan of redemption. Every chapter, 
every word must be held to the light of the purpose 
of the author in writing this book. ISTow turn to the 
Concordance and maps in your Bible and to your 
Bible Dictionary and look for light on each of the 
obscure words and phrases you have marked. 

When you have done this you are prepared to read 
Genesis. That is, to take it in, to feed on it, to make 
it your own, to draw strength from it. Go back to 
the beginning and read slowly, lingering over every 
verse. Keep the heart wide open ; let the Spirit have 
full sway ; read, and praise and pray. 

EXODUS. 

Read rapidly the first twenty chapters and run 
your eye over the remainder to catch the thread of 
events. Do not take in the description of the taber- 
nacle during the first reading. 

The account of the early life of Moses at the be- 
ginning of the book needs only a careful reading. 
When you come to God's contest with Moses you will 
need to put on brakes and make a thorough survey 
of the whole ground. Exodus is a history of God's 
efforts to conquer self-willed children, and this is the 
first struggle. God has given Moses his orders and 
Moses does not want to obey. He offers various ex- 
cuses. Study these excuses one by one and weigh 



READING PARTICULAR BOOKS. 57 

them carefully with God's answers. ISTote the result 
of the struggle : God conquers. 

The next struggle is with Pharaoh — compared 
with which the struggle with Moses was child's play. 
God makes a demand of Pharaoh; Pharaoh refuses 
and the fight is on. What measures does God use 
and what is the effect of each ? Study them one by 
one. Watch Pharaoh's heart— how it hardens and 
softens only to harden again. IsTotice the sequel. 

The next picture is God's struggle with the chil- 
dren of Israel. Here are some questions to answer : 
How many times do these children rebel? How 
many times are they whipped? How many times 
are they delivered? How many times do they for- 
get ? How many times do they give thanks ? How 
many times do they murmur? You cannot read 
these chapters without feeling that you are listening 
to a very personal sermon, and that sometimes the 
preacher is hitting almost too close. 

Of course, you are to study the Commandments 
one by one. In reading the laws which follow try 
to pin each one to the Commandment from which 
it is drawn. 

Perhaps you will see nothing in the account of the 
tabernacle worth remembering. Read it again and 
again until you have in your mind a tolerably clear 
view of all its parts. It will pay you in your sub- 
sequent reading to get this picture before you. 



58 ART OF ENJOYING THE BIBLE. 

JOSHUA. 

It was time for God's army to cross the Jordan. 

It had taken forty years for all the old generation 
to die out and to raise up a generation fit to enter the 
promised land. Unbelief had sown the wilderness 
with skeletons. Only men who believed that God 
Avas stronger than the giants of Canaan could enter 
Canaan ; and they were only two. The weak-kneed 
multitude must lie down and die. As for Moses, an 
ugly fit of temper had already settled his earthly in- 
heritance. 

Joshua tells us how they entered in. Joshua also 
tells us how we may enter in. Read it first to get 
the order of Israel's march, then read it with refer- 
ence to our own footsteps. 

It seems very strange that a book of battles should 
have so much of teaching for us whose weapons of 
w^arf are are not carnal. 

1. The man of God must be a Bible reader. 
"This book of the law shall not depart out of thy 
mouth." Joshua's success is to depend upon his 
faithfulness to the Book — the sword of the Spirit 
and not his own shining sword of steel. Read about 
it in the first chapter and then turn the pages to see 
how large a part the Book plays in the history of 
the conquest. Look up the references to the latter 
part of chapter XIII. 

2. They got in by helping each other. The two- 



READING PARTICULAR BOOKS. 59 

and-a-half tribes had been given their land, but God 
will not let them enjoy it until they have helped their 
brethren clear theirs. Go back to the fourth chapter 
of Genesis, where God is trying to teach Cain the 
responsibility of brotherhood, and search through the 
Book for every verse that teaches the brotherhood 
of men, and what brothers owe each other. 

3. They followed the ark of God. Read up on 
the ark — not i^oah's ark. Follow it through the 
Bible until you are inspired with a keen desire to 
follow it through life. !N'ote that God's ark goes 
through floods, and yet goes the best way after all. 
It was easier following it through Jordan on dry 
ground than to have rigged up rafts and boats to be 
sunk in a swollen stream. It is better to let God 
lead and to follow where he leads. Close the Book 
for a moment and recall instances in point. 

4. They made their greatest conquests without 
carnal weapons. Read the account of each battle 
and see. When God fights there is little need for 
swords and spears, and when God does not fight they 
are just as worthless. Pitchers and processions, 
trumpets and lamps were the simple, worthless at- 
tendants upon an unwavering faith in the God of 
battles. 

Sin was at the bottom of every defeat. Read the 
story of Achan. Read in connection the story of 
Jonathan in I. Samuel 14: 24-45. 

But Israel did not stay in after getting in. They 



60 ART OF ENJOYING THE BIBLE. 

grew tired of fighting before they had rooted out all 
their enemies. The little handful that remained 
could be gotten out any day — so they thought. But 
the little thorn left in the flesh did its work and never 
ceased until Israel was destroyed. Here is material 
for moralizing. This little sin that has been left 
within — what shall be done about it ? 

What can be done with these chapters of hard 
names ? Several things. They will test your knowl- 
edge of Bible history. They will lead you into many 
pleasant by-paths. They will suggest facts and in- 
cidents worth recalling. Wherever there is a refer- 
ence look it up. 

When you are once familiar with the contents of 
the book you will know where to look for portions for 
meditative reading. They are numerous and pre- 
cious. ivTowhere will you find better. 

Read up on the life of Joshua. Form an estimate 
of his character. Compare him with Moses. 

Put together what you can find about Caleb. 

Look through the book and try to trace out the line 
of march on the map. What do you know about 
the cities of refuge ? Stress "refuge." 

How many of the names mentioned are familiar 
to you ? How many facts of history can you group 
about a given name ? 

FIRST AND SECOND SAMUEL. 

The first reading should be to catch the current of 



READING PARTICULAR BOOKS. 61 

events. Whatever may liave been the ultimate de- 
sign of the writer, it is primarily history, and should 
be read first as history. In this first reading note 
doAvn all the interesting characters and the most im- 
portant events for subsequent study. 

ISTow go back to the beginning and study the peo- 
ple — not the men and women who are called by name, 
but the unnamed masses. 'Eo man, whatever may be 
his talents or idiosyncracies, is more interesting than 
the masses. ^^Hiat prominent characteristics of Is- 
rael are revealed in these two books ? ISTote the evid- 
ences of pride, vanity, stubbornness, high temper, 
forge tfulness. You will hardly think when you get 
through that God dealt with his rebellious children 
too harshly. 

IN'ow take up the principal characters. Read ev- 
erything you can find about Samuel and reread until 
you have formed a clear estimate of his character. 
What are the advantages of early consecration? 
What does a man gain by being zealous for the Lord ? 
What is there in Samuel's life worth imitating? 
Study Saul. Make a list of his good and bad traits. 
T\^at raised him to his throne? What caused his 
fall ? What is there here for warning to me ? David 
comes next. You cannot devote too much time to 
him. Study the shepherd boy at home, the perse- 
cuted youth abroad ; the prosperity of his strong man- 
hood, the adversity of his old age. Study him as he 
appeared before he committed his greatest sin, and 



62 ART OF ENJOYING THE BIBLE. 

after. Turn to the Psalms and note the difference 
between the songs of these two periods, l^ote that 
sin, though forgiven, may leave its mark. What is 
there in David for me to imitate? What is there 
in his life to warn me ? 

xTow, group around these principal characters all 
the lesser lights that may interest you. The story of 
Hannah yields precious teaching. Eli's life is a 
warning no parent can afford to forget. Jonathan 
will teach you how to love ; Abigail will tell you what 
one wise woman may accomplish, and l^abal will 
warn you against churlishness. Uriah teaches us 
patriotism, and Absalom shows how the most brilliant 
talents and the greatest natural advantages may not 
always prove a blessing. Ahithophel reminds us that 
a man's vanity may lead him to the gallows. Good old 
Barzillai teaches us hospitality, and Joab tells us that 
the pathway of a man in search of power is covered 
with blood. 

Another reading of these two books should be de- 
voted to the sole object of finding the finger of God. 

Finally, read them for devotional purposes. It 
may seem strange that a tale of blood and battle, of 
intrigue and enmity, should be recommended as help- 
ful to worship ; but it will be difficult to find a book 
that will inspire one to pray oftener or suggest more 
subjects for prayer than either of the books of 
Samuel. 



READING PARTICULAR BOOKS. 63 

JOB. 

The heart is full of questions about trouble. Why 
should we have trouble ? Wliat good is there in it ? 
WHio is responsible for it? What connection has it 
with our sins? Why should God let wicked men 
prosper and keep me down ? How can we reconcile 
the afflictions of the righteous with the justice and 
goodness of God? 

The mystery of affliction! Evidently Job was 
written to throw light on the mystery. 

It is little to our purpose whether it is all a parable, 
or whether Job had boils or black leprosy. The book 
was not written to increase our stock of historical in- 
formation, but to increase our stock of heart knowl- 
edge. 

Read the first two chapters carefully. Read them 
again and again, until you can see plainly set before 
you these six pictures : 1. A righteous man in pros- 
perity. 2. The sons of God presenting themselves 
(Satan among them) before the Lord. 3. A right- 
eous man receiving bad news. 4. Job on the ash-pile 
alone. 5. Job tried by his wife. 6. Job tried by his 
three friends. When you have these pictures clearly 
in mind, you will be prepared to read the poetry of 
the book. 

Remember, it is poetry. We are not to suppose 
that a man suffering as Job suffered could have de- 
livered the highly-wrought sentences here set down. 



64 ART OF ENJOYING THE BIBLE. 

Remember that these speeches are the words of men, 
not the words of God. The book is inspired, but 
Eliphaz is not. The afflicted man and his friends 
say a great many good things, but all of them are led 
to say som.e very unwise things. There need be no 
trouble about this matter ; you can easily distinguish. 

When you have read these speeches, try to set Job 
and his troubles before you and read Jehovah's 
speech. Do not forget for a moment that God is 
speaking to Job — to an audience of one. If you have 
time, it will pay you to read all the speeches again in 
the light of these words of God. 

Look for an answer to these questions : 

Where does trouble come from? What has God 
to do with it ? What has Satan to do with it ? What 
have we to do with it ? 

What are some of the uses of trouble ? 

How should we take trouble ? 

How long is trouble designed to last ? 

THE PSALMS. 

Do you know how to read a hymn-book ? If you 
do you will not need to be told how to read the 
Psalms; for the book of Psalms is a hymn-book, for 
it is the mother of them all, and the only one that is 
both inspired and authorized by God himself. 

People don't read a hymn-book through at a sitting, 
whether the reading is in silence or in song. It is 



READING PARTICULAR B00K8. 66 

neither healthy nor pleasant to combine your break- 
fast, dinner, and supper in a single meal. And a 
hymn-book contains the viands for all the meals and 
for all sorts of tastes, appetites, and digestive organs. 
When yon sit down on a Sunday afternoon with a 
hymn-book in your lap, you do not begin at the be- 
ginning ; you begin with your feelings, your appetite. 
You first ask your heart what it will have, and then 
you proceed to find the dish the heart craves. If it 
is in a penitential mood, you will look for penitential 
hymns. If it longs to give expression to gratitude, 
you will find yourself looking up all the hymns of 
praise. If it is in trouble, you will turn to the sec- 
tion called ^'Trials." If it is longing to love God 
more you will find the hymns that tell of Jesus and 
his love. 

In much the same way we are to read the Psalms. 
Mark you, I am speaking of reading, not studying. 
I never found much pleasure in studying the Psalms 
as the critics study them, for the same reason, I sup- 
pose, that I have always preferred eating my bread 
to analyzing it. 

When you sit down with the Psalms consult your 
feelings. If you have no feelings, you will find as 
little pleasure in your reading as one finds in eating 
a rich dinner without an appetite. This book is heart 
history, and until our own heart has a history its 
songs are but a parrot's jargon. When trouble comes, 
5 



66 ART OF ENJOYING THE BIBLE. 

then comes the nightingale. We must know what 
sorrow is and what heart himger is. 

A short Psalm read before going to bed will smooth 
out the ruffled spirit, cool the aching brow, quiet the 
troubled heart, and soothe and comfort the whole 
being. It is one of God's sweet lullabys with which 
he gives his beloved sleep. 

JEREMIAH. 

It is difficult to give specific directions for the study 
of the prophetical books. I would advise the general 
reader to be content with an occasional careful read- 
ing of these books, and, above all, to avoid studying 
them for confirmation of some favorite theory of 
prophecy. Be chary of the ^^keys" which enthusias- 
tic students are always anxious to give you. Don't 
be sure that you have learned the meaning of this or 
that symbol. There is deep water here. The im- 
portant thing is to take one's stand by the side of the 
prophet, and try to breathe the atmosphere of his 
presence, and catch his spirit, and be wrought up to 
something like the frenzy which possessed him as he 
stood gazing upon the panorama of the future, and 
trying with trembling lips and bated breath to tell 
what he saw. Eor a prophecy is a photograph of a 
vision, not a cold statement of what was told the 
writer should come to pass. This accounts, in some 
measure, at least, for its obscurity: our language is 



READING PARTICULAR BOOKS. 67 

too earthly to describe a poet's dream, much less a 
prophet's vision. 

The time to read Jeremiah is when the heart needs 
probing. For the heart does need probing — some- 
times. Probing is almost a lost art. Oiir fathers 
did it — overdid it ; and because they overdid it, the 
pendulum has swung to the other extreme. It is time 
to swing back. When you are a little doubtful about 
your condition, when there is fog in the air, when 
you need to take your reckonings, sit down and read 
Jeremiah. 

Why were these prophecies uttered ? Make the 
first reading answer this question. The average 
reader will not get a thorough answer. There is a 
great deal of history to be learned, and few will take 
the trouble to learn it. The prophetical books never 
shine forth until you have learned the historical 
books. Before reading Jeremiah, read the second 
book of Kings. 

The second reading should be made a personal 
matter. Put yourself in Jeremiah's congregation. 
Make it a congregation of one. Look straight into 
the prophet's eye, and shove nothing on the Jews. 
You will find every chapter an inspiration to prayer. 
Jeremiah exercises the knees. The preacher who 
makes you feel like you want to pray — what better 
preacher can you want ? 

In this second reading do not allow the mind to be 
dra\Mi off to matters of history. Above all, steer 



68 ART OF ENJOYING THE BIBLE. 

clear of biblical criticism. On this rock you will 
not wreck Jeremiah — be sure of that — but you may 
wreck yourself. Destructive criticism is destructive 
not to the Scriptures, but to the critic. 

You will find Jeremiah wonderfully interesting as 
a picture-book. 'No prophet has taken better photo- 
graphs of the human heart. Look them up. 

THE GOSPELS. 

ISTo one of the four Gospels gives us a complete life 
of Christ, and in a chronological study we are obliged 
to jump from one Gospel to another in rapid succes- 
sion. There is danger of confusion in such a study 
if we have not first obtained a clear idea of the scope 
of each book. 

Roughly speaking, Matthew Avrote to the Jews, 
Mark to the Romans, Luke to the Greeks, John to 
the Church. Matthew painted Jesus as King — the 
only picture that could satisfy the Jews. Mark 
painted him as a busy worker among men and for 
men — the ideal of the Romans. Luke painted him 
as a divinely perfect man — always the dream of the 
Greeks. John painted him as the Son of God equal 
with the Father — the only picture that could measure 
the faith of the Church. 

There is reason, then, for four Gospels. 

Matthew gives its the plain facts about the Son of 
the carpenter. John pictures his divine master 



READING PARTICULAR BOOKS. 69 

transfigured by a halo of love. A loveless heart never 
climbs the Mount of Transfiguration. But, then, if 
all the words of Jesus were as tender as his last words 
which flohn gives us, we would soon be as badly- 
spoiled as Eli's sons, who would certainly have felt 
the whip of small cords had they ministered in the 
temple in the Master's day. Therefore, we have the 
Gospel of Matthew, with its Sermon on the Mount, 
its woes pronounced upon sinful cities, its denuncia- 
tion of the Pharisees, its picture of the last Judg- 
ment. 

Possibly Mark wrote with the Gospel of Matthew 
before him. At any rate, he supplies many touches 
to Matthew's narrative. His business is to record the 
deeds of the Conqueror of Satanic power, and he, 
therefore, confines himself to the three years of 
Christ's ministry. 

Luke knew how to write to the Greeks. He was a 
Greek himself — by descent at least — and a trusted 
companion of Paul, who had all the Greek philosophy 
at his finger ends. 

He wrote (so he told Theophilus in a subsequent 
letter) to present the deeds and teachings of Jesus. 
'Note the order. Good words appear best when they 
follow good deeds. He said nothing until he had 
done much. Luke presents these deeds and words 
without comment. They will speak for themselves. 
Read them and see if there is any imperfection in 
them. 



no ART OF ENJOYING THE BIBLE. 

In this first reading of the third Gospel you will 
be impressed with the fact that Luke tells a great deal 
that is not mentioned by any other evangelist. He 
gives an account of seven miracles not referred to 
elsewhere. Look them up — ^you will find them in 
chapters IV., V., VIL, XIIL, XIV., XVII— and 
study each one. Then he gives sixteen parables not 
to be found elsewhere. And such parables! It 
seems strange that no one else should record them. 
Here is the story of the prodigal son, that tells of the 
Father's compassion for us ; and the story of the good 
Samaritan, that tells of the compassion we should 
have one for another. You should give whole days 
to them. They give you the Bible story in two 
parts. 

Then read the two debtors (chapter VIL), and 
learn how to be grateful for pardon ; watch the friend 
at midnight (chapter XL), and learn how to keep on 
praying; listen to the rich fool (chapter XIL), and 
learn eternal vigilance ; make the acquaintance of the 
wise steward (chapter XIL), and be faithful; glance 
at the barren fig-tree (chapter XIII. ), and bestir 
yourseK ; drop in at the great supper (chapter XIV.), 
and praise God for the mercy that reaches around 
the world. Do not look away from Luke until you 
have studied all these, and others just as wonderful 
in the succeeding chapters. 

Perhaps the fifteenth chapter of Luke has been 
owned of God in the conversion of more souls than 



READING PARTICULAR BOOKS. 71 

any other chapter in the Bible. You should know 
every word of it. 

1^0 one is ready to read the fourth Gospel who has 
not first read the other three. The gospel of John is 
not a life of Jesus : it only brings together the richest 
scenes and the most helpful utterances of that life. 
And it brings them together for a single purpose : see 
the thirty-first verse of the twentieth chapter. 

We do not love John's book best because it is trans- 
lated in the simplest Saxon, nor yet because he was 
the disciple whom Jesus loved; but because he gives 
us the best words of Jesus just as he caught them 
fresh and warm from the Master's lips. If you 
would understand his Gospel, you must first become 
a beloved disciple, and lean upon the bosom of Jesus. 

It is full of little Bibles. You will not find in all 
the other gospels together so many verses to spell out, 
so many precious seed to brood over. You cannot 
gallop through it without catching the aroma of frag- 
rant fields; but if you will crawl through on your 
knees, you will find in this land of promise milk and 
honey enough for a life time. 

FIKST COEIiq^THIANS. 

When you have succeeded in getting a bird's-eye 
view of the first epistle to the Corinthians, you vdll 
not find it difficult to plan a course of reading that 
will send you through the book haK a dozen times, 
and each time with increasing pleasure and profit. 



72 ART OF ENJOYING THE BIBLE. 

The Corintliians were in a bad way. They had 
been converted, but they had a good deal of bad blood 
and bad raising to get over, and they were not get- 
ting over either. They were dropping back. Paul's 
letter was given to stem the tide. 

It is a book of sermons, and each sermon has some 
peculiar Corinthian sin for a text. It will help you 
to set down these sins on paper and then take up the 
book to see how Paul deals with them. There were 
divisions in the church. What sort were they? 
What is the mind of the Spirit on divisions in gen- 
eral ? There was a case of fornication. What ought 
to be done with such cases — according to this book? 
And so on through the whole catalogue. 

In each of these sermons there is more or less 
digression from the text. I^either the preacher nor 
his sermons suffer therefor. It will pay you to go 
back and read every paragraph that departs from the 
matter in hand. What is said about preachers and 
preaching in the first part of the epistle should have a 
separate hour for careful reading. What Paul says 
about himself all the way through the book, if picked 
out and brought together, will give you a better idea 
of the character of the Apostle to the Grentiles than 
you will get from any other source. The thirteenth 
chapter — said to be the most beautiful chapter in the 
Bible — ought to be learned by heart if you do not 
already know it. Take each verse for a text, pray 
over it, and then try to preach a little sermon all to 



READING PARTICULAR BOOKS. 73 

yourself from it. After you have preached all you 
know, read Drummond's ^^Greatest Thing in the 
World." 

That wonderful sermon on the Resurrection will 
deserve your attention next. If you succeed in get- 
ting into it now, you will find yourself going back 
to it every dark day that comes. 

If you have time to go outside of the Bible you 
will come across many a ray of light by reading up on 
the manners and customs of the Corinthians. 

THE EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. 

These letters are not essays, but heart-throbs. 
They are from Paul the pastor, not Paul the theolo- 
gian. The days of theological controversy had not 
yet come, for these letters, be it remembered, are in 
all probability the oldest of the J^ew Testament writ- 
ings. 

The Thessalonians had received the Gospel in much 
affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost, had gro^\m in 
grace, and had obtained a strong hold upon the heart 
of their pastor. Paul, now at Athens, yearns after 
them ; and, as he cannot go to them, he does the next 
best thing — sends them a letter. These epistles must 
be read as letters — warm personal messages from a 
pastor to his flock. They are also Christ's messages 
to us. What these people were to Paul we are to 
Christ, but in greater measure. 



74 ^RT OF ENJOYING THE BIBLE. 

The first reading should be to get a general view 
of the contents. Do not stop at obscure passages. 
Mark them and hasten on. When jou have finished 
the first epistle go back to the marked passages. 
Then read the epistle over again. 

The first epistle contains two pictures: A Model 
Pastor : A Thriving Church. First, study the por- 
trait of the pastor. Here are some of the features : 

He rejoices in the prosperity of his people. 

He prays for them without ceasing. 

He is bold in preaching, endeavoring to please God 
and not man. 

His preaching is without deceit or covetousness or 
flattery. 

He is not burdensome to his people. 

He does not seek his own glory. 

He is gentle and affectionate. 

He labors night and day. 

He is a comforter. 

He is blameless. 

Look up every point and do not pass to anything 
else until the portrait is clearly and completely de- 
fined in your own mind. 

Then study the church, notice its work of faith, its 
labor of love, its patience of hope. ISTotice that its 
members were preachers of the Word, that they were 
examples to the world, and that they had a good name 
abroad ; that they were the joy and crown of rejoicing 
to him who led them to Christ. 



READING PARTICULAR BOOKS. 75 

^tsTeverthelesSj the heart of Paul was full of desire 
concerning his people. He wanted them to abound 
more and more ; to be pure ; to be free from fraud ; to 
love the brethren ; to study to be quiet and mind their 
own business, and to work with their own hands. 
Look up each of these points. 

The second epistle closely resembles the first and 
may be read much in the same way. 

THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 

Delicate people who turn away from the sight and 
smell of blood in Leviticus show plainly that they 
have never read Hebrews. If Leviticus is a tale of 
blood, Hebrews effectually destroys any sickening 
odor. Kead Leviticus first. Llebrews is the key to 
the law. But it is more. 

It is a grand argument for the superiority of Jesus. 
You catch this at a glance. Turn over the pages, and 
everywhere you come across the word "better" or its 
equivalent. Something is better than something else. 
Look through the book again, and you will find that 
it naturally divides itself into the discussion of sev- 
eral comparisons. Jesus is better than angels. 
(Chapters I. and 11.) Jesus is better than Moses. 
(Chapters III. and IV.) Jesus is better than Aaron. 
(Chapters IV.-VIII.) The sacrifice of Jesus is bet- 
ter than the sacrifices of the law. (Chapters IX. 
and X.) 

Take these propositions one by one, and read up 



76 ART OF ENJOYING THE BIBLE. 

on tliem. In each discussion the plan is the same. 
Jesus is better than Moses. In what points? If 
true, what is that to me ? Jesus is better than Aaron. 
In what points ? If so, what is that to me ? And so 
on. Ask these questions as you read, and, if you 
would get the order clearly in mind, jot down the 
answers as you find them. If you will follow out 
this line, you will unravel a good deal of tangled 
thread. 

Go back to the beginning, and recall the several 
propositions, and state the conclusions. The writer 
draws a great many conclusions, and they are all for 
you. A¥rite them on your heart if you can, on a slip 
of paper if you must. 

If you have read faithfully, you will see why the 
writer takes up the subject of faith in conclusion. 
(Chapters I.X.-XIII.) ''See what faith has done," 
he says. Therefore, let us do, suffer, bear, live at 
peace, etc. 

A delightful exercise is to go through the book 
looking for the pictures of Jesus which are here 
sketched by a wonderful hand. What a precious vis- 
ion is that in the first chapter ! And in the seventh, 
and ninth, and twelfth. 

The key word is ''better." 

Favorite words are "if," "therefore," "much 
more," "wherefore." 

You might spend a month very profitably reading 
the references to the "faith" chapter. 



YII. 
STUDYIlSrG THE BIBLE BY TOPICS. 



Only those wiio regularly study the Bible by books 
can profitably make occasional use of the topical 
method. 'No one can safely dip into the Word here 
and there for a text to throw light on a given subject 
who has not familiarized himself with each book as a 
whole. Pick a dozen texts out of their places and 
you can combine them with almost as many and as 
marvellous results as you can combine a dozen figures. 
They can be made to prove anything at will. If we 
condemn our enemies for garbling the Bible to suit a 
bad purpose we should not condescend to garble it 
for a good purpose. As a rule, we have no right to 
use single texts until we can carry in our minds the 
place from which they are taken. There are a few 
verses which are well named "little Bibles" ; but most 
of them are like our eyes — full of light so long as they 
are in their places, but worthless when removed from 
their sockets. 

But if you have a general idea of each book as a 
[77] 



7^ ART OF ENJOYING THE BIBLE. 

whole you -will find the topical method invaluable for 
occasional use. The plan is simple. You have in 
vour heart a question that has given you trouble. 
You want light on it ; your chief desire is to know the 
will of God on that particular matter. Suppose, for 
example, you are troubled about the subject of temp- 
tation. You have some temptations which you have 
never been able to overcome. You don't understand 
why your religion should fail you at this point. Your 
great desire is to know just how to overcome these 
temptations. You go to the Bible for light. Before 
opening the Book write down on a slip of paper all 
the questions concerning temptation which have trou- 
bled you. Arrange them in logical order. Then ask 
God to answer these questions through his Word and 
to direct your mind in searching for the answers. 
You are going to study the whole subject of tempta- 
tion and you are going to be perfectly honest in the 
search for passages related to it. Eor a starting point 
begin at the beginning. Do you recall anything in 
Genesis on temptation ? Do you remember the name 
of any one who was tempted ? You have but to turn 
a single leaf and you come upon the account of the 
temptation in Eden. Eve was tempted. Study her 
case. Wherein did she make a mistake? What 
course ought she to have pursued? What do you 
learn in the account that fits your case ? Adam was 
tempted : study his case ; note the difference between 
his temptation and Eve's. Having thus made a start 



STUDYTNG THE BIBLE BY TOPICS. 79 

you will have no difficulty in continuing. The refer- 
ences in the margin will supply you with further 
light. Look them up and then look up the references 
to the references. If the references give out and 
your questions are still unanswered inquire again at 
the door of memory ; try to recall other instances of 
persons who were tempted and fell, and of those who 
were tempted and overcame. If at last memory fails 
and you can go no further turn to the Concordance in 
this volume, and look up every word bearing upon 
the subject. Generally, however, when you have once 
started you will not have to stop soon for want of 
material; the danger is in being overwhelmed and 
confused by the abundance of references which con- 
stantly crowd into the mind. 

SELECTED HINTS. 

Mr. Moody suggests taking up one word in a book, 
such as the ^'believes" in St. John. "Every chapter 
but two speaks of believing. Look up the nineteen 
personal interviews with Christ. Take the conver- 
sions of the Bible ; the seven blesseds and overcomes 
of Eevelation. See what I. John 3 says about as- 
surance, and the six things worth knowing. Take up 
the five precious things of Peter, the verilys of John, 
the seven walks of Ephesians, the four much mores 
of Eomans 4, the two receiveds of John 1, the seven 
hearts in Proverbs 23, and especially an eighth, the 
lockings, the lockings back, the beholds of the Bible." 



80 ART OF ENJOYING THE BIBLE. 

The study of biographies has always proved stim- 
ulating to the spiritual life. What incentives to 
growth and endeavor would come from a close, prac- 
tical study of a series of lives ; e. g., Joseph, Moses, 
Elijah, Daniel, John the Baptist, John, Peter, 
Stephen, and Paul? To guide us in such study we 
might take a simple outline like the following; A 
man's preparation for his life-work, qualifications, 
difficulties encountered, achievements, the secret of 
his enduring influence. — R. Mott. 

HoAV are we to get all the passages that bear upon 
a certain subject ? 1st. Take your Concordance 
and hunt up all the passages that have this word in 
them. 2d. Hunt up all the passages that have 
synonymous words, or words expressing the same 
thought, in them. 3d. Classify and write down 
your results. Do not trust to your memory. For 
example, supposing you were studying the subject 
of prayer. Find all the passages that contain the 
word prayer. Then look up all the passages that 
have the word "call," the word ^^cry," the word "ask," 
the word "petition," and other synonymous words. 
Having done this, make a classification under some- 
thing like the following heads : ^Vliat is prayer ? To 
whom to pray ? Who can pray ? Acceptable prayer. 
How shall we pray ? Where shall we pray ? When 
shall we pray? For whom shall we pray? etc. — 
Anon. 

One of the best methods of studying a doctrine is 



STUDYING THE BIBLE BY TOPICS. 81 

to deal with it historically, as St. Paul dealt with 
faith in the 11th of Hebrews. Thus we may trace 
the history of redemption from Genesis to Revela- 
tion ; the foundation-stone is laid in Genesis 3:15, 
the outline of the structure in Genesis 12 : there is a 
prefiguring of redemption in Exodus, and types of 
redemption in Leviticus; the brazen serpent is set 
up in l^umbers ; a series of redemptive works are set 
forth in the pages of the Historical Books. Redemp- 
tion from sin comes to light in the Psalms and 
Prophets ; and so we reach the days and work of the 
Redeemer in the ISTew Testament. — 8. S. Times. 



VIII. 
THE TOPICAL METHOD ILLUSTKATED. 



WHAT CHRIST WANTS HIS PEOPLE TO BE. 

After all, this is the thing. 'Not what he wants 
lis to look like, or affect, or do; but what he would 
have lis be deep down in our hearts. If we fulfil this 
wish, the rest will be easy. Take care of the foun- 
tain, and the fountain will take care of the stream. 

If we want to know Christ's wishes, we must get 
them from him direct. It is the privilege of a Chris- 
tian soldier to go to headquarters and to take nothing 
at second hand. The Bible is the Captain's order- 
book. It ought to be a delightful task to look over 
this book, and study the plans of the campaign, and 
learn his slightest wish concerning the soldiers who 
have part in it. 

Perhaps the first intimation of a wish on the part 
of Jesus is in the answer he gave to John at Jordan. 
When he said: "Thus it becometh us to fulfil all 
righteousness," he seems to add: "This is what I 
want you — my people — to have: the spirit of obed- 

[83] 



84 ART OF ENJOYING THE BIBLE. 

ience." How beautiful is this spirit in his own life, 
from the time when he was subject to his parents 
to that hour in Gethsemane when he said, "INTot my 
will, but thine be done." Go through one of the gos- 
pels and trace the course of this spirit. 

Another intimation of a wish on the part of Jesus 
is in the first chapter of John. Seeing ISTathaniel 
coming to him, he says : "Behold an Israelite indeed 
in whom is no guile." You can almost hear him 
add : "And this is what I want each of you to be — 
guileless." 

He does not often express a wish in so many words. 
You must watch the undercurrent. All his words 
burn with desire. All the while he is talking he is 
thinking of the hearts of these men whom he is pre- 
paring for his work. He wants them to be this and 
that; to have such a spirit; such and such qualities 
of heart. One of the strongest is that his disciples 
should have a forgiving disposition. On every possi- 
ble occasion he calls attention in some way to this 
spirit. Look through his life for these instances, 
and study them one by one. It may not prove pleas- 
ant reading, but it is forgive or die. Forgive, or re- 
main unforgiven. Be friendly to those I love or you 
cannot be my friend. Sometimes he seems to have 
no greater desire concerning his disciples than that 
they should be merciful, even as our Father, "who is 
kind to the unthankful and the evil." 

At another time he expresses the desire that we 



TOPICAL METHOD ILLUSTRATED. 85 

should be sincere. Be not as the hypocrites. Study 
Christ^s attitude toward hypocrites. 

Then he wants us to be meek. He has a peculiar 
love for the lamb-like spirit, and would have us be 
lambs in the midst of wolves. Look up every inti- 
mation of this wish, beginning with Luke 10, 3. We 
believe that if we are meek we will be run over ; but 
Jesus says if we are meek we shall inherit the earth. 
Meekness establishes. 

Finally, he wants us to be spiritual-minded. 
Think more about souls and less about bodies. Ke- 
gard the life more than meat or raiment. Don't be 
burdened by many things. One thing is needfuL 
You may spend many an hour looking up this teach- 
ing. 

It is comforting to know that he who has all things 
in his own hands has wishes concerning our welfare, 
and to remember that at last he expressed a desire 
that we might be kept safely, and that we might 
finally dwell with him. 

Shall not his wish be our law? 

INTIMACY WITH GOD. 

A beautiful sentiment cherished by many Christian 
people is that God's children are attended by angels. 
The thought becomes peculiarly precious when in the 
midst of bereavement, it is fancied that these guard- 
ian spirits are the forms of loved ones gone before. 



86 ART OF ENJOYING THE BIBLE. 

Whether it is fancy or not we do not know — we 
cannot know ; but one thing we do know, that, whether 
angels or loved ones gnard our steps, better than all — 
'^best of all is, God is with us." 

The Book is crowded with the precious teaching. 
]^ot merely that God is in the world guiding the 
world, but that God is with us — with you and me — 
holding us by the hand, watching our feet, looking 
ahead for the dangers and cheering our hearts along 
the way. We cannot do better than spend an hour 
a day for a month looking up the Scriptures that tell 
of this wonderful intimacy. 

God is so close to us that nothing escapes him. He 
sees everything. ^^Thou, God, seest me," is no longer 
a stale truth when we have learned to put the em- 
phasis on ^^me." He sees our sins. Begin with 
Psalm 69 : 5, and look up the parallel passages. 'Note 
that while God sees the robber at midnight, he also 
sees the venom on our tongues with which we would 
rob our neighbor of his good name. He has an eye 
on the heart. 

He not only sees our sins, but he sees our tempta- 
tions, our peculiar difficulties, and never misunder- 
stands us. Look up some passage to fortify your 
mind on this point. Recall some words of him who 
was tempted in all points like as we are yet without 
sin. 

He is with us to teach us. Read the fourteenth of 
John. Everybody knows that the world is at school, 



TOPICAL METHOD ILLUSTRATED. 87 

but many of us imagine that it is recess, and that the 
Teacher has gone off for a walk. Remember, he is 
not a hearer of lessons, but a teacher. I^ot a heart- 
less schoolmaster, to make you work your sums with- 
out assistance, and to whip you if you don't, but a 
kind, helpful teacher, who is ready to explain, and, 
when necessary, to take slate and pencil in hand and 
work it himself. 

He is with us to help us. You will find a text 
for this point on almost every page of the Book. 
Group the texts around these subjects following: 

He helps us in our work. 

In our decisions. 

In sickness. 

In bereavement. 

In persecution. 

In speaking a word for him. 

In our battles. 

Finally, he is with us as a companion, ^ow, go 
back to the fourteenth of John for a starting point. 
Read about the vine and the branch in the fifteenth. 
Then go to the Psalms, and learn that you may dwell 
close enough to him to taste and see that the Lord 
is good. 

What do we gain by living so close to him ? 

The Book tells of the reward. 

We learn his voice. Read the tenth of John. 

We learn to love him. 



88 ART OF ENJOYINa THE BIBLE. 

We learn him, and that means eternal life. Look 
this up. 

We learn to be like him. "Beholding as in a 
glass/' etc. 

'Now, group every precious text you have found 
around Hebrews 13 :5 : "For he hath said, I will 
never leave thee nor forsake thee." 

THE christian's CHECKS. 

You may not tell a rich man by the size of his 
purse. His money is not in his purse, but in the 
bank. A poor man is worth only what he has in his 
pocket; the rich man is worth all that he has in his 
name — and his name is many times bigger than his 
pocket. 

Judging the children of God by their visible be- 
longings, they are for the most part a lean set. But 
no child of God is poor. If his pocket is empty, it 
is only because his best wealth cannot be carried in 
his pocket. His name may not pass at a national 
bank, but he has an unlimited supply of endorsed 
checks on the bank of heaven; and these checks are 
endorsed by the cashier himself. Let us go to the 
check-book and look over our assets. 

At the very outset we have a check which measures 
the bank account of the richest man in America: 
"Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all these 
things shall be added unto you.'' (Matthew 6 : 33.) 



TOPICAL METHOD ILLUSTRATED. 89 

If jou are engaged in a business that God hates, he 
promises if you will give it up and engage with him 
that he will furnish you with all of your supplies, 
and you shall lose nothing. That is all the rich man 
gets for himself — his supplies. Look up more prom- 
ises of this sort. 

Then when we come to God we find another check 
lying in front of the Cashier^s window. It reads; 
^'Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast 
out." Certainly it is a timely check, for all along 
the way we have been wondering whether God would 
receive us or not. 

There are ever so many checks like this lying in 
front of the Cashier's window. Look them up. 

Then when we go out into the world we are handed 
a bunch of checks to pay our way among strangers. 
This is the way they read : 

"There hath no temptation taken you but such as 
is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not 
suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able, but 
will with the temptation also make a way of escape, 
that ye may be able to bear it." — I. Corinthians 10 : 
13. 

"I will never leave thee nor forsake thee." — ^He- 
brews 13 : 5. 

"If ye abide in me and my words abide in you, ye 
shall ask what ye Avill and it shall be done unto 
you."— John 15 : 7. 

We might spend several hours very pleasantly look- 



90 ART OF ENJOYING THE BIBLE. 

ing over these checks. Suppose you take your Bible 
and arrange them in groups. Find promises for — 

The sick. 

Troubled hearts. 

People who can't make both ends meet. 

Tired people. 

Sinners. 

Persecuted people. 

The disconsolate. 

The aged. 

The dying. 

FOEGIVING ONE ANOTHER. 

What makes hate so hateful? 

Open your Bible at the beginning, turn one leaf, 
and you will be reminded that it was hate that 
brought sin into the world — Satan's hate. On the 
next page you have another answer. Hate causes 
murder. Rather, hate is murder, for Cain had never 
seen death, and it is not probable that he had any 
idea what would be the result of his blow. And 
John, who had Cain in his mind when he wrote, said, 
"Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer." 
Study this story carefully, and see if you cannot find 
in Cain's passion some trace of hatred for God also. 
Can a man hate his brother without hating his God ? 

The Old Testament is full of incidents in which 
hate plays the important part. A wife's hatred for 



TOPICAL METHOD ILLUSTRATED. 91 

her waiting maid brings a shadow upon Abraham's 
home. A brother's quarrel darkens Isaac's declining 
years. Jacob's heart is broken by the murderous 
hatred of the older sons for Joseph. Malice and envy 
and quick temper bring destruction to Israel's camp. 
And so on through the historical books. 

When you reach the l^ew Testament it may occur 
to you for the first time that even the Gospel of Love 
is a history of hate. The vision of angels that herald 
the Savior's advent is flanked by the fierce visage of 
Herod, a king of haters. As a tender babe Jesus is 
threatened with the sword. And all the way from 
infancy to Calvary you will hardly get a glimpse of 
the Son of God without having your attention drawn 
to a band of blood-thirsty men slyly but scornfully 
eyeing him from the nearest shadow. Calvary is a 
picture of God's love and of man's hate strangely 
mingled. 

^o man who has not been wholly corrupted by his 
own venom can rise from a perusal of the Gospels and 
any longer wonder why Jesus declared that except 
we forgive our enemies God will not forgive us. 

SET APAET FOE GOD. 

Did you ever sit down with the Book in your lap 
and try to enumerate the things God has set apart for 
his children ? Did it not seem that he had set apart 
everything for us and kept nothing for himself? 
Does not God reserve anything for his own use ? 



9-2 ART OF ENJOYING THE BIBLE. 

Yes, lie reserves his children: "Know that the 
Lord hath set apart him that is godly for himself." — 
Psalms 4: 3. He gives awaj everything but his 
children. All things are ours except ourselves; we 
belong to him. He is willing that we should have 
and use everything, but he must have and use us. 

Why has God set us apart for himself? What 
does he want with us ? Let us go to the Book for the 
answer. 

I. In the first place, he has chosen us to be his 
treasure. "In that day when I make up my 
jewels." — Malachi 3: 17. We are Grod's jewels. 
Take the thought to the Book and work it out. We 
are dear to God — dear as jewels. Why ? 

1. We are his workmanship. His finger-prints 
are upon us. 

2. We have cost him so much. The blood of his 
son is upon us. Look up the texts that tell of these 
things. 

If we are set apart as his treasures, what is our 
business ? What is the business of a jewel ? 

1. To reflect light. 

2. To adorn. 

Will a jewel in the dust reflect light? Will it 
adorn the dust? Must it not be taken out of the 
dust, above the earth, and thoroughly cleansed ? 

11. In the one hundred and forty-seventh Psalm 
we are told that we are set apart for his pleasure. 
How can we be any pleasure to God ? What sort of 



TOPICAL METHOD ILLUSTRATED. 93 

children does he take pleasure in? What sort of 
children do we take pleasure in ? 

1. Those that do right. So with God. — I. 
Chronicles 29 : 17. 

2. Clean children. — II. Corinthians 6 : 17. 

3. Uncontentious children. — Philippians 2 : 14, 
15. 

Look np parallel passages. 

III. All through the Book — look up the places — 
we are told that we are set apart for his service. — 
Romans 12 : 1. 

1. He wants the use of our hearts. For what? 
Turn to the word "heart'' in your Concordance. 
Also look up the following : 

2. He wants the use of our hands. 

3. Our feet. 

4. Our ears. 

5. Our eyes. 

6. Our tongues. 

Are you set apart for God ? If you are set apart 
for him at all, you are set apart for him altogether. 
The Book emphasizes this. If you are set apart for 
his service, you are set apart to his pleasure. If you 
are for his pleasure, you will be his treasure. If you 
are a treasure to him, you will be of service to him. 

PEACE. 

All through the Psalms and Prophets there are 
promises of peace for those who serve the Prince of 



94 ART OF ENJOYING THE BIBLE. 

Peace. ^The Lord will bless his people with peace," 
says David. And Isaiah declares that "The work of 
Righteousness shall be peace ; and the effect of right- 
eousness quietness and assurance forever." Search 
the Book through, and nowhere will you find that 
the Lord will afflict his people with worry, or that 
the work of righteousness is fret and care, and the 
effect of righteousness a long face and a turbulent life 
forever. 

If you want to know how to attain unto a life of 
peace the Book will tell you. 

1. You must have a sense of pardon. — ^Romans 
6; 1. 

2. You must keep in mind the providence of 
God. — Isaiah 26 : 3. There is an example in Psalms 
4:8. You will never rest quietly until you are con- 
scious that the Lord is around about you as the walls 
are around about Jerusalem. 

3. You must keep God's commandments. — Isaiah 
48: 18. 

4. You must cultivate a peaceful life. — ^Romans 
14:19; Hebrews 12 : 14. 

5. You must believe in Christ. — John 14; Eph. 
2:14. 

CHRISTIAN GIVING. 

There is a good starting point as far back as Abel. 
Read the account of his sacrifice. 'Note that it was 
a sacrifice, not a song, l^ote that Abel did not hold 



TOPICAL METHOD ILLUSTRATED. 95 

a prayer-meeting and call it an offering or a service. 
It was a real sacrifice and it was the best way Abel 
had to assure the Lord that he recognized his right 
over him and that he was really grateful to God for 
all that he had done. After six thousand years has 
the world found a better way to express these two 
ideas ? 

ISTow, turn to Leviticus and see how near Abel 
came to God's own ideas. INTote that when a man 
came to the altar he made three offerings — a sin off- 
ering, a dedicatory offering, and a thank offering. 
IsTote that the worship of God was not complete with- 
out the three. If it was necessary for a man to make 
an offering for sin then, it is now. Christ is our sin 
offering — offered once for all. If a dedicatory off- 
ering was necessary to constitute worship then it is 
necessary now. We recognize this and daily offer 
our bodies, dedicating ourselves anew to his service. 
Is our worship complete until we have gone a step 
further and made a thank offering ? 

Eead up on all the offerings made by God's people. 
Dwell at length on the sacrifice of David at the 
threshing-floor of Araunah, the widow's gift of two 
mites and the anointing of the Saviour by Mary. 

Read Malachi and learn what fault God found 
with the offerings of his people. 

Write do^vn on a slip of paper every question about 
giving that has troubled you, and go through the 
Book for an answer. 



96 ART OF ENJOYING THE BIBLE. 

The references following may give jou a start : 

1. How much shall I give ? — Mark 14 : 8 ; I, Cor. 
16: 2. 

2. How often shall I give? 

3. What is the best plan for systematic giving ? — 
I. Cor. 16 : 2. 

4. Shall a man who is in debt give ? — Mai. 3 : 
8-10. 

5. How can I know that I am giving to God ? — 
Matt. 25 : 40. 

6. What has my money to do with my religion ? — 
I. John 3 : 17. 

7. What benefit shall I receive from giving? — 
Prov. 11 : 25, 19 : 17, 28:27; 11. Cor. 9:6-8; Eccles. 
11: 1; Acts 20: 35. 



IX. 

OIvTE WAY OF STUDYIE^G THE SUISTDAY 
SCHOOL LESSOK 



Open jour Bible at the last lesson and recall its 
principal facts and teachings. Find the lesson you 
are about to study, note its position, note its subject 
aa given in your Sunday-school helps, and turn back 
and read the intervening verses or chapters until the 
connecting links between the two lessons are clearly 
formed in the mind. !Row read the lesson through 
rapidly to catch its general drift. Run the eye along 
through the chapter following and see what comes 
next. Turn back and read the lesson over slowly 
and note every difficult word or phrase. Go back, 
and with the aid of the references in the margin, your 
lesson helps, a Bible Dictionary and a Concordance, 
look for light on every difficult place you have 
marked. It is important that you should look up 
not only the references given in the margin of your 
Bible, but also the additional references contained 
in your lesson helps. To the careless reader, refer- 
7 [971 



98 ART OF ENJOTING THE BIBLE. 

ences are defined as things to be skipped; to the 
earnest student thej are so many doors to be opened 
with the hope that they maj lead out into the light. 
!N^ow go through the lesson again for answers to the 
following questions: When did this event occur? 
Where? What do I know about the place — on the 
map and in history ? ^Vho are the persons here men- 
tioned ? What do I know about them ? What event 
is here recorded ? Wliat were the circumstances lead- 
ing to it? What was the probable motive of the 
writer in recording it ? To whom, or for whom did 
the author write ? Again look through the lesson 
and inquire, What is the great central truth of the 
lesson? What is the very heart of the matter? 
What else does the lesson teach ? What are all these 
teachings to me ? What iise can I make of them ? 

If the lesson is a prophecy or an extract from an 
epistle, inquire fully into the circumstances under 
which it was written. What was the immediate 
occasion for it ? 

In every lesson it is of the highest importance to 
get at the mind of the author. A^^iat did the writer 
mean to say to those to whom or for whom he was 
writing ? The tendency is to slur this step or omit it 
altogether. "I haven't time," says one, "to learn 
what this lesson meant to people living tw^o thousand 
years ago : I want to know what message there is in 
it for me.'' And he takes the passage as he finds it, 
and proceeds to draw lessons from it for his own 



THE SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON. 99 

benefit. But that is not Bible study; it is only 
moralizing. One can moralize about any thing. A 
piece of white paper, for example, will suggest enough 
lessons to keep a Sunday-school going for a six-month. 
If we are going to do nothing but moralize it will 
make no difference whether we understand the pas- 
sage or not ; our Bibles may as well be in Syriac, or 
they may be blank. But if we want to get at the 
truth which the Holy Spirit would have us find in 
the passage we must dig for it, and we must dig to 
the bottom. 

If one will thus go through the lesson, digging on 
all sides with an interrogation point, desiring nothing 
but to know the will of God, and realizing one's de- 
pendence upon the Holy Spirit, he will come to the 
end of his task with a heart overflowing with riches ; 
and if he is a Sunday-school scholar he will be ready 
for his class. If he is a teacher he will need further 
preparation. 

SELECTED HINTS. 

In the first place, then, read over the lesson in your 
own Bible. This may seem to go without saying, 
but the first resort of many teachers is to a com- 
mentary or some other book. Bead over the lesson 
again. It would do you no harm to read it aloud. 
Having read the lesson in the authorized version read 
it in the revised version, and note the points of differ- 
ence between the former and the latter. If you are 

LofC. 



100 ART OF ENJOYING THE BIBLE, 

a student of the Greek Testament, read the lesson 
in the Greek, and again make a note of suggestions 
growing out of an examination of the original. 
After that consult the references. The best com- 
mentary on the Bible is the Bible. Make a note at 
this stage, as at every stage of the preparation, of 
suggestions growing out of these examinations and 
comparisons. Once more read over the lesson in 
your own Bible, not now for the purpose of compar- 
ing text with text, but for the purpose of noting sug- 
gestions that may be later brought to the attention of 
the class. Underscore or mark with a cross in your 
notes those suggestions which may seem to you at 
the time to be the most important and helpful. After 
all this has been done, read a good commentary on the 
lesson. — E, F. See in '"Men/' 

Bead the lesson over and over and over many 
times. Bead it as a whole, and then study minutely 
every verse, every clause, every word. Then test 
your own knowledge of it by questions which you 
yourself frame. Your own questions will be the best 
for you. Then read the Bible text before and after 
that of the lesson. See the connection. Get a view 
of the whole scene, or the whole teaching, l^ext find 
how other Scripture illustrates this, by studying the 
marginal references in your Bible. If there is a re- 
ference to "chariots of fire," for instance, see how 
many references of a similar character there are in 
all the Scriptures. The number of these is not large, 



THE SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON. 101 

and you can find them all. Suppose your lesson 
illustrates faith. Then seek for other characters 
showing faith, or for other teachings of the book 
about faith. Use your own mind first in trying to 
get at the meaning of a passage. Observe how the 
Revised Version renders the lesson, l^ote very 
closely the variations. Sometimes they are very 
slight, but occasionally they are of deep import. In 
not a few cases the Revised Version is the only com- 
mentary needed. — 8. S. World. 

Read it verse after verse ; study its words and their 
meanings, the import of its literal statements, make 
plain to your understanding just what the text means. 
Do this first. Much misunderstanding and careless 
study and teaching of the Bible comes from careless- 
ness in getting at the simple literary lesson-text. If 
the meaning is obscure to the teacher, it will be doubly 
so to his scholars. Put the lesson into your own 
words, changing its form and modernizing its lan- 
cruage, imtil you see clearly what it means and is 
intended to state. Make no haste to generalize and 
discover "points." Plain study of the text itself is 
what most teachers need, yet many neglect. Look up 
the marginal references for light upon the Scripture 
meaning and use of words to which they refer. Such 
study is old-fashioned and often obsolete ; yet it will 
alwa3^s remain the best critical method, and the 
teacher's most profitable preparation for teaching. — 
Hamill. 



102 ART OF ENJOYING TEE BIBLE. 

I cut from the lesson-leaf in the early part of the 
week the verses of the next lesson, and paste them 
separately, at a convenient distance apart, on a blank 
sheet of paper; and as the thoughts bearing on the 
Scripture are suggested through the week, I write 
them under the particular verse to which they ap- 
ply. — Anon. 

Preparation should be in writing. When the ma- 
terials of a Bible lesson are drawn out on paper, the 
sense of vision coines in to aid the memory, and the 
diiferent parts of the exercise are recollected with 
greater readiness because of the position they have 
occupied on the paper. — Groser. 



X. 

ACCOUN^TIISrG FOR DIFFICULTIES. 



It would be difficult to find in the Bible a more 
strikingly human remark than that of Peter's, to the 
effect that our brother Paul hath written some things 
hard to be understood. Certainly he expresses our 
sentiments. It is just the sort of remark we have 
made ourselves, not about Paul only, but about Peter 
also — and James, and John, and the rest. There is 
nothing more perplexing to many devout souls than 
the fact that the Bible has so much in it that is 
obscure. And there is nothing which Satan is to-day 
using more successfully in his efforts to deceive the 
very elect. If the Bible is a message from God to me 
— thus the argument runs — surely I ought to be able 
to understand it. Standing on this ground, one in- 
sists that it is his privilege to interpret everything 
in the Bible, and he is presently led by his interpreta- 
tions into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. 
Another insists that the obscurity of the Book is proof 
that it is not the Word of God, but that it only con- 

[103] 



104 ^RT OF ENJOYING THE BIBLE. 

tains here and there a word from God, and he goes to 
the critics to have them tell him which is which. 
This is what the modern literary criticism of the 
Bible thrives on. If the Bible was a message from 
God to only one of his children, then we might rea- 
sonably expect that it would be comparatively with- 
out obscurity. But God is speaking to a great multi- 
tude — to many men of many minds, of many ages 
and circumstances and experiences and tongues. To 
such an audience he may say many things that all 
will understand, but if he chooses to turn now and 
then, as he does, to one or another part of his audi- 
ence, and to address himself to the peculiar wants of 
a given people, he must in the nature of things utter 
words which the rest of the audience cannot under- 
stand. We need to remember that we are not the 
only children to whom God has sent this message; 
nor is the message confined to matters which we need 
to learn to-day. There is something in it for child- 
hood, for early manhood, for old age, for fatherhood, 
foi motherhood, for trouble, for sunshine — for every 
relation and circumstance of life. And there are 
doubtless parts of the message which shone for the 
early Christian, and for the Jewish Christians, that 
are obscure to us now; and parts which will shine 
out for the children of God who are yet to come. Be- 
cause God would not put a passage in the Bible that 
did not mean something is no reason why we should 
insist that we have the right and the power to get at 



ACCOUNTING FOR DIFFICULTIES. 105 

its meaning. Because there are stars in the heavens 
which we have not seen is no reason why we should 
insist that we can find them with the naked eyes, or 
that we can see them in the ^NTorthern when they may 
be visible only in the Southern hemisphere. 

There are difficulties of the Bible which are due to 
the defectiveness of human language. Words of men 
are as poorly fitted to convey some of God's thoughts 
as a basket is to bring water from a spring. There 
are other difficulties which are due to the incomplete- 
ness of our knowledge. The spade which unearths 
the ruins of the East is still bringing hidden things of 
the Scriptures to light. Still others are due, as I 
have already intimated, to the limitations of exper- 
ience. There are truths which appear only to those 
who have come into the secret of His presence, and 
there are truths which, like the stars, will never shine 
out imtil the night has closed in upon us. But when 
liberal allowance has been made for all the difficulties 
for which we cannot be held directly responsible, 
there yet remains a great multitude which no man 
can number, the responsibility for which cannot be 
turned from our OAvn door, inasmuch as our own 
hands have made them. It is a little remarkable that 
these latter are the difficulties which give us the great- 
est amount of trouble, and which, therefore, are of 
surpassing interest. 

1. Perhaps there is not one of us who has not at 
some time made the mistake of regarding the Bible as 



106 ART OF ENJOYING THE BIBLE. 

a monograpli. We have read it — and many of us 
still read it — as if it were the work of one man, and 
as uniform in style and matter as we know it to be 
in teaching. We have insisted on studying Genesis 
and Matthew as if they were written by next-door 
neighbors ; we have viewed Abraham and Paul from 
the same standpoint, as though they were companions 
in travel; we have criticised the Psalms as if they 
were written by the beloved disciple; we have read 
the parables as if they were written in the scientific 
style of the first verse of John's Gospel. There are 
those who insist on finding the same style from Gene- 
sis all the way to Eevelation. If they are rigid lite- 
lalists they do not see why the law and the prophets 
should not be read as one book ; if they have a weak- 
ness for types and symbols they find them as readily 
in Esther and Proverbs as in Leviticus and Ezekiel, 
and insist that every genealogical table is an allegory 
to those who have had that revealed unto them which 
has been hidden from the wise and prudent. 

As a revelation of God the Bible is one book. But 
while the teaching of the Book is one, the Book itself 
is a collection of volumes by many authors of many 
centuries. We have no right to read this collection 
as if it were a newspaper record of yesterday's events 
in a single community among a homogeneous people. 
It is as absurd to measure all of the sixty-six books 
of the Bible by the same rule as it would be to criticise 
all the pictures in a miscellaneous collection of paint- 



ACCOUNTING FOR DIFFICULTIES. 107 

ings, engravings, crayon sketches and photographs, 
as if they were all paintings. 

2. Quite as common an error is that of seeking 
to bring the Bible into clearer light by modernizing 
its form. If the Book is to be of practical service 
to us it must be brought close to our hearts, and laid 
down side by side with our lives. The Bible as an 
ancient document has its uses, but the salvation of 
mankind is not one of them. It is the living Word, 
not its ancient clothing, that is to uplift the race. If 
the Book and the age are to be brought in contact, 
either the Book must be remodeled and brought up to 
the age, or we must go back to the Book, and in its 
own home and on its o^vn soil, interpret its teaching. 
Like Mohammed we have ordered the mountain to 
come to us, but unlike him we have been slow to learn 
that we have required an impossibility, and there is 
nothing left for us to do but to go to the mountain. 
Even intelligent ministers have fallen into the error 
of supposing that the truth of the Book can be brought 
into contact with the age by modernizing the form 
of the Book to suit the age. We smile at the effort 
of the backwoods preacher to make the story of the 
raising of Lazarus more vivid by having the brother 
of Mary and Martha turn over in his coffin and pry 
the lid off with his shoulders, and the next time we 
tell the story to our own pupils, we describe the two 
sisters as if they were American girls in Oriental 



108 ART OF ENJOYING THE BIBLE. 

dress. How much light would be thrown on the Iliad 
by dressing it up in nineteenth century garb ? 

In reading the Bible as a modern book we insist on 
finding a thought stated as we would state it, and in 
making a logical order when no order was intended. 
We twist and turn and combine and separate pas- 
sages to produce system or to make a climax when 
the author had no thought of either. We interpret 
disconnected notes of a sermon as if they formed a 
complete stenographic report of the whole sermon, 
carefully revised by the preacher. Accustomed to 
cold statements of facts we read tropical passages that 
are as fervent as hot cakes as if they were extracts 
from the record of a scientific investigation. Ac- 
customed to measuring men in the electric light of 
the Christian era we pass judgment upon l!Toah, 
David and Solomon as if they were the representa- 
tives of the highest type of piety of modern times. 
In a word, in trying to bring the Bible into a clearer 
light by modernizing it, we make a thousand difficul- 
ties where no difficulties existed, and bring on a fog 
dense enough to hide the sun. 

What we need is not a wild imagination to dress 
the Bible in modern garb, but a historical imagina- 
tion that will enable us to go back and correctly real- 
ize the events and characters of Bible times. It is as 
absurd to try to catch the spirit of the Book by dress- 
ing it up in modern garb as it would be to try to 



ACCOUNTING FOR DIFFICULTIES. 109 

cateli the secret of the sphinx by dressing it in a 
bicycle habit. 

A man who came from the Orient in early youth 
receives a letter from the old home, brimful of news 
and saturated with a father's love. Some things in 
it are easily made out; but he has been away so long 
from the old country that its scenes, its customs, its 
daily life, its very language have grown unfamiliar, 
and his ideas and ways of thinking and figures of 
speech are wholly unlike that of his father. How 
will he clear up the obscure passages of the letter? 
By trying to imagine his old father as an American, 
living in an American home, accustomed to American 
ways of living and thinking and writing? Will he 
not rather seek to recall him as he knew him and the 
old home life as he knew it, and with these materials 
try to form a picture of the home scenes at the time 
the letter was written? 

3. A great many passages are obscured by trying 
to make them mean too much. There are admirers of 
the Bible who seek to gild its glory by making it 
mean more than was in the minds of the inspired 
penmen, just as there are admirers of Shakespeare 
who try to add to the reputation of the immortal bard 
by putting in his lines more ideas than he ever 
dreamed of. The parables, especially, have suffered 
from this mistake of over-interpretation. As a rule, 
Jesus spoke a parable to press home a single truth. 
It is the favorite amusement of some good people to 



110 ART OF ENJOYING THE BIBLE. 

play the magician over these wonderful treasure 
caskets, and to see how many wonderful things they 
can get out of them that were not put in them. Life 
is too short, and the message from the Eather too long 
to spend our time in supererogatory interpretations. 

4. Finally, I may mention the mistake of reading 
the Bible in the shadow of a pet doctrine. There are 
multitudes who search the Scriptures with one eye on 
the sacred page and the other on a doctrine, or theory, 
or hope, which is dearer to them than the Scriptures 
themselves. They go to the Bible, not to find what 
is in it, but to find what they want. It is the pro- 
cess of shutting out of view everything that is not to 
their purpose, and gazing steadfastly upon that which 
suits them until its image is formed in their minds, 
so that they will see its photograph whichever way 
they may look; just as children cut a white bird out 
of a bit of paper, and after gazing steadfastly upon 
il". for a moment, look up and find it photographed on 
the wall — a black bird turned upside down ! It mat- 
ters not how glorious our favorite doctrine, or theory, 
or hope may be, its image, when photographed upon 
the sacred page, seriously obscures the meaning of 
the Word. A temperance Bible-class may learn a 
great deal, but not about the Bible. We cannot hope 
to discover the truth, except from the highest possible 
point of view — ^the point from which we can view the 
Word as the revelation of God. 



XL 

A PAIK OF NEGLECTED HELPS. 



The faculty of seeing things is a characteristic of 
every successful investigator, whether he be a delver 
in the secrets of nature, or of monuments, or of 
books. I do not mean extraordinary natural eye- 
sight ; I mean the power which that man has who has 
harnessed his eyes to his mind, and is making the 
most of his team. Every student worthy of the name 
has brought his eyes into harness, and whether his 
vision is as strong as an eagle's, or so imperfect that 
he must hold his book to his nose and spell his way 
through scalding tears, he would rather see his library 
go up in flames, and forget all that he has learned, 
than lose the power of seeing the right word at the 
right time — which is after all the mark that dis- 
ting-uishes him from the boy at the foot of the class, 
who looks up at you with his big listless eyes, and 
declares that he "didn't see that.'' 'Not that the stu- 
dent places little value upon the helps he has gathered 

about him, but he has learned that helps gathered 

[III] 



112 ART OF ENJOYING THE BIBLE. 

from without are of value only to him who uses the 
helps which have been developed from within. It is 
only the mechanic who makes use of his fingers that 
can find use for the new tools he buys ; and it is only 
the student who makes use of his faculty for seeing 
that can find use for the helps to study which are 
continually coming from the press, however new or 
excellent they may be. 

In this chapter I wish to indicate a few of the 
many ways in which a pair of trained eyes may be 
used to advantage in Bible study. 

1. He that would make the most of his tools must 
recognize their limitations as well as their possibili- 
ties. It is easy to keep this in mind while using a 
saw or a gimlet, but most men lose their eyesight be- 
fore it occurs to them that eyes are limited in 
capacity as well as in number. A teacher spent an 
hour every night dozing over a small print Bible by a 
light turned half down to save gas bills. At the end 
of the week the Bible had absorbed much of the sur- 
rounding gloom, and had become as dull as it is to 
the child who reads his chapter every night from a 
tiny clasped thing in agate type that a thoughtless 
mother gave him. When at last the teacher came to 
his task with a large print Bible and a brilliant light, 
he experienced a sensation like that which flashes 
over an audience when a dull droning talker is suc- 
ceeded by somebody full of snap and vim, and some- 
thing to say. If the eyes are to do their best work^ 



A PAIR OF NEGLECTED HELPS. 113 

they must not be required to spend the best part of 
their strength in overcoming needless obstacles. For 
this reason, if for no other, I would not adopt a sys- 
tem of Bible marking that would give to the page the 
appearance of a railroad map. 

2. The arrangement of a sentence or paragraph 
upon the page has much to do with the impression it 
makes upon the mind. A break in the line calls a 
halt in the mind. If the break marks a pause, or the 
completion of a thought, there is a moment of rest; 
but otherwise the mind must put forth extra effort, 
and clear the chasm at a bound. We may not be 
conscious of this extra effort, but we are conscious of 
a very delightful sense of relief in turning from a 
chapter arbitrarily cut up into verses to a chapter 
that is properly paragraphed. This fact may be 
taken advantage of in several ways. There are sen- 
tences which are often slurred over because they are 
either too long or too full for the eye to get a fair 
chance at them. One who has formed the ^^pencil 
and paper habit" finds it a good plan to transfer a 
sentence of this sort to a sheet of paper, breaking it 
up so that each phrase or emphatic word is given a 
line to itself. By this means the mind is given an 
opportunity to dwell without distraction upon those 
parts of the sentence which otherwise might be over- 
looked. For example, in the opening sentence of the 
Epistle to the Galatians several thoughts are crowded 

together so closely that the reader is almost sure to 
8 



114 ^RT OF ENJOYING THE BIBZE. 

overlook some of them. This difficulty is readily 
overcome by opening up the sentence on paper some- 
what as follows : 

^Taul an apostle 

(not of men^ neither by man^ 
BUT BY Jesus Christ^ 
AND God the Father^ 

WHO RAISED HIM FROM THE DEAD)^ 
AND ALL THE BRETHREN WHICH ARE WITH ME^, 
UNTO THE CHURCHES OF GaLATIa/"* ETC. 

This method is especially commended to those who 
are trying to form the habit of looking intensely at 
words. The student's first business with a word is to 
look at it intensely — ^^syllable by syllable/' as Ruskin 
says ; but it is often his last business, as well. There 
are times when he has consulted all his helps in vain, 
and there is nothing to do but go back to the hard 
word and look at it again. 'Now let him write it 
down, and settle himself before it. Let him look at 
it with all his mind and all his strength. Let him 
look at it until the world around him seems to dis- 
solve, and he can see nothing but that word. Who 
that has thus waited, and not in vain, can forget the 
wonderful experience? It is as when one stands 
upon the mountain top in the dripping mists, and 
strains his eyes to catch the first glimpse of dawn in 
the east. 



A PAIR OF NEGLECTED HELPS, 115 

3. One who has learned the art of gazing intently 
upon a single word until every syllable and every let- 
ter yields its secret will go farther and seek to acquire 
the art of running the eyes rapidly through a book to 
catcli the tliread of the argument or story. As a vio- 
linist should be able to tune his instrument with an 
orchestra thundering around liim simply by choosing 
to hear no instrument but his own, so a student should 
be able to run his eyes over the slowly turning pages 
and catch the tliread or outline simply by choosing to 
see only what he is looking for. The method does not 
need to be described. One practices it every time he 
becomes so deeply interested in searching for a thing 
that he has no eye for anything else. 



XII. 

TO CULTIVATE A TASTE FOE THE BIBLE 

m LITTLE CHILDKEIsr. 



At that period of life when to hear mother tell 
'•jnst one more story" begins to be the chief aim of 
existence, the child should be already "in soak" in 
an atmosphere of Bible stories. The idea that the 
baby mind must be fed on nursery rhymes and fairy 
tales before it can grasp a Bible story has as little 
foundation as the idea that a young man must sow 
his wild oats before he is in a condition to sow his 
tame ones — though it is not intimated that nursery 
rhymes and fairy tales are species of wild oats. It is 
not a mere pious fancy that a Bible story Avill get the 
attention of a little child quicker and go deeper than 
any fairy story ever invented. The mere tone of a 
mother's voice — assuming that it is not a "holy 
tone" — in telling a sacred story, will reach the heart 
of a child when it is too young to catch the meaning 
of her words, just as the tones and gestures of an 
eloquent preacher speaking in a foreign tongue have 

[117] 



118 ART OF ENJOYING THE BIBLE. 

carried a distinct message to the hearts of hearers 
who could not understand a word he was saying. 
And whatever poetry there may be in the suggestion 
of heaven in the blue depths of a baby^s eyes, no one 
who has lived day by day in the presence of the infant 
mind can resist the conviction that the wall which 
separates the little child from the upper world is a 
mere tissue, too thin to keep out the sound of voices 
from beyond. This soaking process is as important a 
part of the preparation for the child's first year with 
his Bible as teaching him how to read. That is, pro- 
vided it is not lost sight of when his first reading les- 
sons are selected. This brings me to a point which 
Ave are too apt to overlook, and that is that the first 
readings should be confined to those stories with 
v/hich the child has been made familiar by the 
method I have just described. JSTaturally at such a 
time he will be interested in almost any story that 
may be selected for him; but if he is given a story 
which he has repeatedly heard from his mother's lips, 
lie will experience a new delight, like that which 
comes to one in unexpectedly meeting an old friend 
in a strange place ; or, perhaps I should say, like the 
unexpected meeting of one's mother, for his Bible 
will appear to him as another form of his mother's 
lips. And this will come to him all the more forcibly 
if he is allowed to make the discovery for himself. 
Under no circumstances should he be told in advance 
that the story he is to read is one of mother's telling. 



A METHOD FOR LITTLE CHILDREN. 119 

When he has gone through with all the stories with 
which he is already familiar — assuming that he is not 
familiar with tales of violence and blood, which have 
their place in the sacred Word, but no place in the 
infant mind — he is ready to enter upon a consecutive 
course of reading. This should begin, continue, and 
end under the parental eye. There will come days 
when the child's interest must be sustained by the 
mother's interest; besides, in this first reading there 
are many passages to be passed over, and it will de- 
volve upon the mother to bridge the chasms thus 
made by giving the substance of the parts omitted. 
The first book should be one of the Gospels — Matthew 
or Mark. If Matthew is selected the child should be 
told the story of the birth of Jesus, and his first read- 
ing should be the account of the visit of the wise men. 
The first chapter will keep for another year ; so will 
the account of the slaughter of the innocents and of 
the temptation in the wilderness. Before marking 
the second reading (the account of the baptism of 
Jesus), the child should be given a glimpse of the boy 
eTesus in ^N^azareth, and also of the life of John the 
Baptist. The last eight verses of the fourth chapter 
may be marked for the third lesson. Of the Sermon 
on the Mount it will be sufficient to read the first 
twelve verses of the fifth chapter and the first fifteen 
verses of the sixth chapter. 

All of the miracles may be read except those of the 
healing of the daughter of the Syrophenician woman 



120 ART OF ENJOYING THE BIBLE. 

and the withering of the fig tree, both of which are 
sure to be misunderstood. Of the parables in this 
book the Unmerciful Servant, the Two Sons, and the 
Talents may be read with profit. 

From Matthew the child may turn to Genesis. 
There are whole chapters in this book which must 
be left for maturer years. The story of the murder 
of Abel may be briefly told, but should not be marked 
for reading. The story of the offering of Isaac 
should be reserved for a time when the child is able 
to see something more than a bound boy meekly wait- 
ing for the death stroke from a father's hand. I 
would not omit every chapter that contains expres- 
sions which modern taste would condemn as indeli- 
cate, for the reason that, as a rule, expressions of this 
sort produce no impression whatever upon the mind 
of a little child. It is more important to avoid gene- 
alogical tables and those stories which expose the in- 
firmities of good men — stories which produce as bad 
an impression upon children as their suppression 
would have produced upon mature minds. 

Shall the readings be confined to those passages 
which a child can understand? By no means. It 
will be enough to avoid the passages which he is likely 
to misunderstand. There are many things which we 
do not understand that give us both pleasure and 
profit. We have seen audiences lifted to the third 
heaven by Handel's "Messiah'' when nobody imder- 
stood it. There are poems full of inspiration for 



A METHOD FOR LITTLE CHILDREN. 121 

men wlio have despaired of ever knowing what the 
author meant. Life is full of good things that elude 
our intellectual grasp which we are able to seize with 
our spiritual tongs. And this is as true of the child 
as it is of the man. There are messages which come 
from some of the Psalms to a child's heart that are 
distinct from the impressions which they make upon 
the mind, as the language of ia mother's voice is dis- 
tinct from the words she utters. 

It is evident that the plan which I have outlined 
calls for something more than good intentions. The 
following ^YQ points especially need to be kept in 
mind: 

1. Each child should have a Bible of his own. 
And it should be a new Bible — a nicely bound, well 
printed volume with type one can bear to read, and 
paper strong enough to bear handling. As you value 
his soul don't impose on him a musty old volume, 
the property of your grandmother, fished out of the 
garret with economical intent. When you have 
bought his Bible (it is better to take him along with 
you and let him buy it out of his own purse), write 
his name in it, the date of his birth and every date of 
interest in his life. This will help him to realize 
that it is his book, and will prepare the way for the 
truth, Avhich should be early taught, that the mes- 
sage in the Book is a personal one. This new Bible 
should have a place provided for it, and it should be 



122 ART OF ENJOYING THE BIBLE. 

kept in its place, and it should be bronglit to family 
prayers every morning by the child himself. 

2. A child should never be required to read the 
Bible as an act of piety. You tell your boy that it 
is his duty to read a chapter a day, and that the ex- 
ercise will be pleasing in the sight of God. But duty 
is a word which a boy is slow to spell. Mothers who 
are impressed with the idea that reading a chapter a 
day is an act of piety always administer the Bible to 
their children as a dose of medicine. ^'Read this 
now, my son ; it isn't bad a bit ;" and the boy swallows 
his chapter in Leviticus with a wry face and a dis- 
agreeable conviction that his mother "^^got the better of 
him.'' And the next day, when the mother finds that 
the coaxing method will no longer work, she must 
resort to commands or threats. 

3. IsTor should a child be required to read the 
Bible as a punishment. A noted teacher of the old 
school always gave a truant his -choice between a 
whipping and committing to memory a part of the 
Sermon on the Mount. The novice in disobedience 
usually chose the sermon, but when he got through 
he solemnly resolved that if the alternative was ever 
offered again he would choose the whipping. There 
are middle-aged men who spent their boyhood days 
under this teacher to whom the Sermon on the Mount 
is but a bitter memory. 

4. It will hardly help a child to read the Bible at 
all until he first has in his heart the ambition to be a 



A METHOD FOR LITTLE CHILDREN. 123 

good boy such as God loves. Impress upon his tender 
heart the fact that God has given him the Bible for 
this very purpose — that he might learn how to be 
the good boy God wants him to be. Keep this be- 
fore him and never let him get the idea in his head 
that the Bible is a book of puzzles. The child who 
has been taught that the end of Bible study is to be 
able to answer such questions as, Who caused the axe 
to swim? will throw the Book into the cellar when 
he has out-grown his boyish love for conundrums. 

5. But after all, the success of any effort to 
quicken in little children an appetite for the Book 
will depend chiefly upon the mother's appetite for it. 
In homes where the Bible is in actual use the children 
take to Bible stories as little ducks take to water. 
The mother who takes the trouble (if it can be called 
a trouble) to look up suitable stories, and who reads 
them with an effort to make them plain as she reads 
other stories, will develop her children's taste for the 
Bible, and their interest will likely be perpetuated. 
The mother who meets the baby's request for a Bible 
story with a yawn and a promise to read some other 
time, will live to see her children grow up with a posi- 
tive aversion for the Book. We have all known 
homes in Avhich the question of interesting the chil- 
dren in the Scriptures never came up — the mothers 
having a strong, reverential affection for the Word, 
which affection the little ones seemed to imbibe with 
their milk. 



XIII. 

WHEN FAMILY WOKSHIP IS A PLEASURE. 



The excuse usually given for neglecting family 
worship is the lack of time for it. The reason — 
usually withheld — is the lack of appetite for it. A 
man eats his breakfast whether he has time for it or 
not — if he wants it; and he will not have family wor- 
ship whether he has time for it or not — if he does 
not want it. 

A great deal of the prevailing aversion to domestic 
worship may be traced to the abuse to which the Bible 
is so often subjected at the family altar. There are 
men who cannot open the family Bible without as- 
suming the air of a parson about to read the burial 
service. The children shrink from the ghastly show 
and range themselves against the farthest wall. The 
atmosphere of a sepulcher pervades the room. Ten 
to one it is a chapter in Romans or Jeremiah one day, 
and an imprecatory Psalm the next. The little ones 
are given their meat in due season in the form of 
such sentiments as, "Let the extortioner catch all that 

[125I 



126 ART OF ENJOYING THE BIBLE. 

he hath/' ^Tet his posterity be cut off," or "Let him 
be ashamed and brought to confusion that rejoiceth 
at my hurt." Every day the function increases in 
formality and the atmosphere grows more sepulchraL 
'No wonder that the medicine eventually becomes so 
bad that the children must be forced to take it, and 
the head of the family reaches the conclusion that he 
cannot spare the time to administer it. For once he 
is wise. No man who has a living to make can afford 
to waste the golden moments of the morning in such 
mockery. 

But there is a more excellent way. The secret of 
making family worship a delight lies in recognizing 
the home altar as the center of the home. In one of 
the happiest homes I know the family altar is recog- 
nized as the place where the members of the family 
may kindle anew not only their love for God, but their 
love for one another. In this home the call to morn- 
ing prayer is an invitation to a family reunion. It 
occurs every morning immediately after breakfast, 
when the entire household assembles in the sitting 
room. Husband and wife sit together and the chil- 
dren group themselves around their parents. It is a 
family love-feast, and no child, whatever be his 
humor, is allowed to sit off to himself. The lesson 
is announced, and while the children are finding the 
place — each child has a Bible of his own — there is a 
snatch of song, a simple melody that everyone knows 
dovm to the three-year old. The lesson is a chapter 



FAMILY WORSHIP A PLEASURE. 1^ 

full of promises, or a story of Jesus from the gospels, 
or a Psalm overflowing with praise, or an incident in 
the life of some Bible character worthy of imitation. 
Several methods of reading the lesson are used. One 
day the head of the family reads a verse, the other 
members of the family read the next, and so on, re- 
sponsively. Sometimes one of the children is ap- 
pointed to lead in the resj)onsive reading. Often the 
entire family reads the lesson slowly in concert. At 
other times the father reads the first verse, the mother 
the second, the oldest child the third, and so on down 
to the tot, who repeats his verse from his mother's 
lips. Once or twice a month a short lesson is selected 
to be committed to memory. This lesson is recited 
in concert every morning until each child is able to 
repeat it "by heart." In this way the minds of the 
children are stored with precious passages for use 
in the emergencies of life. Even now they are find- 
ing use for them. There are days when everything 
goes wrong and it is impossible to have prayers in the 
ordinary way. At such times, while still at the 
breakfast table, one of the memorized selections is 
repeated in concert and there is a word of prayer. 
It takes but two or three minutes, and while the les- 
son may not make a deep impression, the children will 
grow up to feel that whatever happens the day is not 
begun until there has been a moment of communion 
with the Father. 

When the lesson is over the Bibles are closed and 



128 ART OF ENJOYING THE BIBLE. 

all kneel together. It has never been a cross in this 
family to lead in prayer, for the reason that the head 
of the family has never thought it necessary to pray 
like his pastor. The whole difficulty with the man 
who feels that he cannot pray with his family lies 
here. He feels that he must begin with a formal 
invocation. If he would let the invocation go and 
simply give thanks to God for the things he at the 
moment feels thankful for, and then proceed to ask 
for a blessing upon each member of the family he will 
not lack for utterance. This is the method in the 
home of which I am speaking. The prayer is free 
from glittering formalities and so simple that the 
smallest child can understand it. There is a petition 
for each member of the household, and the father 
does not forget to place his hand upon the head of the 
child for whom he is praying. At the close the 
Lord's Prayer is repeated in concert and all remain 
kneeling for a moment of silent prayer. Then there 
is an exchange of loving embraces all around and 
each goes his way under the spell of the hallowed 
n^oment. The entire service occupies but seven min- 
utes; but the influence of those seven minutes per- 
vades the home like a breath from heaven through 
the whole day. 

There are other methods. A minister who was 
out "gospel ranging" spent the night with a gentle- 
man who had five children ; "four were at home with 
him and one had gone to be with the Lord." He 



FAMILY WORSHIP A PLEASURE. 129 

writes: "The bright rays of the early sun as they 
poured betAveen the pot-plants and into the warm 
sitting room on that w^inter week-day morning, were 
no more cheerv than the six faces that greeted me 
when I sat down with the family for its morning 
meal. Nor was the meal itself, althongh it seemed 
to be absolutely perfect in its quality, preparations 
and appointments, any more simple, savory and sub- 
stantial than the dish of family worship which fol- 
lowed it. I noticed that those children were not com- 
pelled to worship God on an empty stomach, as are 
some unfortunates. Right joyously they trooped 
into the front room and took their places for the daily 
family worship. 

"First came the reading of the Scripture, which 
was interspersed with bright, earnest questions and 
with reverent remarks. The portion read struck me 
as wonderfully vivid and real. Then came a com- 
mandment from this one, and a beatitude from that, 
with some sweet little applications to the family life 
of the day before. Then followed two or three ques- 
tions from the Catechism, and I saw that in the an- 
swering accuracy was encouraged. Is^ext, we prayed, 
and after a short and simple prayer by the leader, 
the older ones added each their special petition, when 
all repeated the Lord's Prayer in unison. Then 
there was sung one of the standard hymns of the 
church. 

"Anything more ? Yes ; while the baby lay in tlie 
9 



130 ART OF ENJOYING THE BIBLE. 

mother's lap, the rest rose, and after joining hands 
so as to make a complete circle, in which the stranger 
also was invited to a place, the doxology was simg. 
When the third line was reached and thej sang 
Traise him above ye heavenly host,' I noticed that 
they all glanced toward the mantle-piece, and on it 
I saw the photograph of a little boy who bore the 
family likeness, but was not present. There was 
method in that family worship." 

Another writer tells of a home where at the hour 
for worship a daughter goes to the piano and plays 
the air of a familiar hymn. "Everyone sings. I 
shall not soon forget the sweet, pleading voices in 
^Ivct the Savior in,' nor the solemnity and beauty of 
^Abide with me, fast falls the eventide,' as I heard 
them sung in that home. After the hymn every 
child, from the youngest upward, recites a verse of 
Scripture in turn, and the father then reads a short 
passage in a Psalm and leads in prayer. 

"In another household," continues the same writer, 
"the custom is simpler still. The father or mother 
reads the text and stanza for the day from an every- 
day text-book, and then the simple and brief petitions 
follow, commending the household to God's care and 
acknowledging his constant mercies." 

When there is time the reading may be accom- 
panied by a brief exposition. But one needs to know 
how to do it. In an account of a visit to the home of 
Bishop William Taylor, Dr. F. E. Clark thus de- 



FAMILY WORSHIP A PLEASURE. 131 

scribes the venerable bishop's reading at family pray- 
ers: "The passage he chose was the familiar one- 
hundred-and-third Psalm. ^A man one fine day, had 
a talk with himself/ began the Bishop in his abrupt 
way — ^had a conversation with himself. Here is 
what he said : '^Bless the Lord." He counts up ^yq 
benefits — five things the Lord hath given him; first, 
pardon, "Forgiveth all thine iniquities'' ; second, 
health, "Healeth all thy diseases ;" third, redemption, 
"Redeemeth thy life;" fourth, mercies, "Crowneth 
thee" with them; fifth, satisfaction, "Satisfieth thy 
mouth" even: then of course thy soul. Gives thee 
youth in old age. Just what we old men want. 
Youth like the eagle's too, soaring, aspiring, glorious 
youth !" 

In selecting the lesson it is always safe to aim at 
the younger children. Chapters that interest the 
little people are likely to fit the needs of all sorts of 
people. As I have said elsewhere in these pages it 
is not necessary to confine these selections to those 
passages which the children can understand. It will 
be enough to avoid the passages which they are sure 
to mi simder stand. Let the lesson be full of light and 
faith and hope and love. Don't read the promises 
with groans, the Psalms of praise with tears in your 
voice ; and don't read the imprecatory Psalms at all. 

The richest treasures for the family altar are to 
be found in the Psalms and the gospels. There is 
hardly a chapter in Matthew, Mark or Luke that will 



132 ART OF ENJOYING THE BIBLE. 

not furnish a suitable lesson of half a dozen or a dozen 
verses. The gospel of John contains much that is 
sure to be misunderstood by the young mind (e. g. 
chapters 3:1-13: 4:10-19; 6:48-58), and should be 
read with care. In addition to the gospel lessons 
and the Old Testament stories with which the little 
ones are already familiar, the following selections 
will be found especially appropriate: Psalms 1, 8, 
15, 19, 20, 23, 24, 25, (ver. 1-15), 27, 34, 37, 47, 48, 
51, 63, 67, 84, 91, 92, 95, 96, 98, 100, 103, 116, 133, 
138, 146, 147, 150; Proverbs 3:1-18; 15:1-21; 
16:16-32; 22:1-11; Isaiah 53: 1-7; 55; Acts 9: 
1-20 ; 36-42 ; 16 :25-40 ; 23 :ll-24 ; Eomans 12 ; I Cor. 
13; Ephesians 6:1-11; I John 4:7-21; Kevelation 
1:9-20; 21:1-7; 22:1-14. 

In selecting passages to be committed to memory 
one should look for the places where the promises lie 
thickest, and for meaty texts which contain the gospel 
in a nutshell — the beatitudes, for example; and the 
first, twenty-third and one-hundred-and-third Psalms ; 
and the thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians. 



XIY. 
ADDITIOE^AL POIE^TS. 



1. The old way of reading a parable was through a 
microscope. Every phrase of the parable — every 
word Avas closely scrutinized to see what could be 
made out of it. As a result we made these parables 
mean a great many things which Jesus did not intend 
to teach. We would not like to have our own 
parables treated in this way. When we tell a story 
by way of illustration, we usually have but a single 
point in view. We expect to have our hearers take 
the illustration as a whole, and not to dissect it to see 
what each part means. If they insist on looking at 
each point in the illustration by itself we are sure 
that they will miss our meaning altogether. We 
should do unto the parables of Jesus as we would 
have others do unto our own. The way to study a 
parable is through a telescope. That is, instead of 
viewing each phrase by itself we should read over 
the parable rapidly again and again, and try to grasp 
it as a whole. 

2. Every Bible student should have a shelf on 

[133] 



134 ^RT OF ENJOYING THE BIBLE. 

which to lay the nuts which he may find too hard to 
crack. Life is too short to spend one's time trying 
to understand the unknowable when there is so much 
that is knowable awaiting our attention. The man 
who feels that it is his duty to interpret every passage 
of Scripture he reads is to be commended for his zeal 
rather than for his wisdom. 

3. You have a difficulty with a friend. He tries 
to explain by letter, and at the end he says, "But I 
can't explain it as I would; wait until I see you." 
And when, a few days later, you meet him, and look 
into his face, you do not need any explanation. So 
with God's letter to us. "I^ow I know in part ; but 
then shall I know even as also I am known ;" "for we 
shall see Him as He is." 

4. The Bible wastes no time teaching stubborn 
pupils who never expect to make use of what they 
learn. 'No man will clearly understand his duty 
about anything until he has laid down the book before 
him and resolved to do just what it tells him to do. 

5. If we had a clearer knowledge of the Book in 
general, we would not have so much trouble trying to 
clear up particular passages in it. 

6. The Bible yields little to the man who, in in- 
terpreting a text, seeks to be consistent with a theory 
of his own rather than to be in accord with the gen- 
eral tenor of the Book. 

7. If the Bible is to yield its treasures we must 
dig them out with an interrogation point. There 



ADDITIOIfAL POINTS. 135 

are scholars who go to the Bible to question every- 
thing it says. To such the Book yields no treasure. 
What we want is not to question everything the Book 
says, but to ask questions about everything it says. 
It is a good rule to go through every chapter — rather 
every paragraph — earnestly seeking an answer to 
these five questions : ^^Hien ? Where ? Who ? What ? 
Why? 

8. In trying to get at the meaning of the Scrip- 
tures we should be careful to clear out of the way the 
idea of our own infallibility. There is danger lest 
Protestants credit to their own individual judgment 
what they have denied to the Pope. 

9. Reading the Bible in a hurry is like trying to 
swallow a cocoanut whole. You spill all the milk 
and don't get a taste of the meat. 

10. In reading, a pause after a sentence is the 
Interpreter's opportunity to speak. 

11. Don't try to explain away the supernatural. 
When you explain that away you will have nothing 
left but the two lids of the Book. 

12. Don't forget who is writing and what he is 
writing for. You have seen people who could not 
tell you the name of the author of the book they were 
reading without turning to the title page. They got 
in the habit of it by reading books that were not 
worth the trouble of finding out who wrote them. 

13. Don't hold the Bible responsible for every- 
thing it quotes. All Scripture is true, but some 



136 ART OF ENJOYING THE BIBLE. 

things that are quoted in the Bible are not Scripture, 
and may or may not be true. For example, when 
the devil is quoted, as in the temptation in Eden, and 
in the temptation in the wilderness, you may set it 
down that there is not enough truth in what he says 
to be discerned by a microscope. 

14. Don't run warm metaphors into cast-iron 
molds. Don't clothe the Jew in American garb. 
Don't take the warm figurative language of the East 
for cold, scientific Darwinian statement. You must 
put yourself in the place of an oriental if you would 
understand the hard sayings of Jesus. ''If any man 
come unto me and hate not his father" never sounds 
in cold English as it does in a warm Eastern lan- 
guage. 

15. Don't forget the context. Don't infer, too 
much. Don't mistake the coloring for the picture 
itself. Don't lay too much stress on a single verse. 
Don't imagine Jesus meant a great deal more than 
he said. 

16. The history of one age is the prophecy of the 
age to come. Eead the Old Testament in this light 
and it will become a l^ew Testament. 

17. To quicken interest in the Bible in a com- 
munity try a series of Bible readings. In preparing 
for a Bible reading choose a subject about which peo- 
ple ask questions — heart questions. Write do^vn all 
the questions you have ever heard asked or ever asked 
yourself about the subject chosen. The best plan is 
to have a separate slip of paper for each question. 



ADDITIONAL POINTS. 137 

When all have been written down arrange them in 
logical order. 'Now, take up the questions one by one 
and turn to your Bible with the determination to de- 
pend upon the Bible alone for the answer. Think a 
moment. Do you recall a passage that refers even 
remotely to the question in hand? Look it up: it 
may not furnish you with the answer but it may serve 
as a starting point. If it fails to give you any light 
look up the references in the margin. And if you do 
not now get what you want look up the references to 
the references. ]N^owhere is perseverance more cer- 
tain of a reward than here. If you cannot recall a 
passage tliat even remotely refers to the question in 
hand turn to the Concordance in this volume. Sup- 
pose the question relates to affliction. Look for the 
references under Afflict, Affliction, Adversity, Trou- 
ble, Trial, Tribulation, Sorrow, etc. When you have 
found a text which answers your question write it 
down on the slip and take up the next question. By 
the time you have gone through with the list you will 
be full of your subject, and if the work has been done 
in a prayerful spirit your heart will be at white heat 
and nothing will remain to be done except to make a 
separate list of the references on narrow slips of 
paper to be handed around in the audience. Go to 
the meeting early and quietly distribute the slips. 
Don't give a slip to a good man simply because he is 
good, and don't give one to a man of unsavory repu- 
tation under any circumstances. You want persons 



138 ART OF :BNJ0TING THE BIBLE. 

who can respond instantly to your call, who will keep 
their wits about them, who know the Bible well 
enough to find the references, who will not lose the 
slip of paper, who are not given to ludicrous mis- 
takes or noticeable mannerisms, who will not have to 
take out their spectacles and wipe them after having 
been called upon to read, and who can read in a voice 
loud enough and clear enough to be understood by 
everybody in the house. The opening service should 
be of a character to mellow the heart. Don't make a 
preliminary talk on matters in general before an- 
nouncing the subject. When the subject has been 
announced take your stand by it and stay by it to the 
end. The persons to whom you gave the slips of 
paper will now have their Bibles open ready to re- 
spond instantly to your call. Let the audience under- 
stand that what you propose is simply to find out 
what Grod's Word says about the subject in hand. 
A good plan is to bring up the leading points in the 
form of questions, and to name after each question 
the text which contains the answer. The person who 
has the text called for will immediately rise and read 
it. Call attention to the truth which the passage pre- 
sents and then call for another. Don't indulge in 
general comments. Don't stop to tell a long story. 
Let the Word have the right of way, and honor the 
Holy Spirit as the teacher for the hour. 

18. We may study the world's greatest poem until 
Ave are perfectly familiar with its structure, and yet 



ADDITIONAL POINTS. 139 

remain utterly ignorant of the poetry that is in it. 
And we may study the Bible until we can repeat it 
word for word from beginning to end and yet re- 
main utterly ignorant of the Word of God that is in 
it. Brains can grasp the clothes of a poem but it is 
something else within us that enjoys the poem. 
Scholarship may analyse the peel and fibre of the 
Bible, but only the heart can taste its juice. 

19. Adopt that method of Bible reading which 
is most conducive to Bible living. We may not need 
to be more scientific, but we do need to be more 
saintly. 

20. The world has no greater hero than the man 
who can open his Bible wide and ask for the whole 
will of God, determined to obey though the heavens 
fall. 

21. Have you noticed that passages in the Bible 
which say little or nothing of a distinctively religious 
character — purely secular stories, they appear on the 
surface — are often remarkably full of religious les- 
sons ? 

22. The Bible is not to be learned by superior in- 
telligence nor by force of will. It is all in the spirit 
with which we approach it. The Book never yet 
opened its treasure to a cold heart, a critic, a curiosity 
hunter or a croaker. 

23. Thirty years ago the Bible was read a great 
deal and studied very little, l^ow it is studied a 
great deal and read very little. Whether anything 



140 ART OT ENJOYING THE BIBLE. 

has been really gained by the swing of the pendulum 
it doth not yet appear; but it is pretty clear that 
neither the old nor the new way is going to bring 
about the desired results. He who uses the Bible as 
a reading book only misses many things according to 
the letter, but he who uses it as a tfext-book only misses 
many things according to the spirit. We need to get 
at the letter as well as the spirit, but what we should 
be reminded of to day is that we need to get at the 
spirit as well as the letter. We cannot live by merely 
analyzing our bread ; we must eat it. 

24. To get light on the hard places of the Word 
one must get into right relations with Him from 
whom the light must come. 

25. The Bible is a book of divinity magnificently 
illustrated, ^ot every one has a taste for essential 
truths, but most of us can enjoy pictures, and it would 
be hard to find the man who does not set a higher 
value upon his Bible for the inspiring portraits which 
adorn its pages. Even the non-religious world is 
conscious of a debt of gratitude which it owes the 
Bible for the splendid and unique portrait gallery 
which it has generously provided for the benefit of 
humanity. But the Bible also contains a multitude 
of minor sketches — silhouettes, outlines in chalk or 
charcoal, kodak snap-shots, wedged in here and there, 
and looking up at you from most unexpected places — 
which to some students have proved quite as inspiring 
as the grand portraits of the grand men who stand 



ADDITIONAL POINTS. 141 

out as beacon-ligbts of sacred history, just as there 
are ordinary-looking people who cross our path in 
every-day life that influence our lives quite as much 
as the towering characters of the day. 

26. Cultivate the habit of looking for key-words 
and phrases, and connecting them with the chapters 
in which they are found. The catch-words of each 
chapter committed to memory in their order serve 
as a string of beads to recall the entire book. 

27. N^othing hides so many passages of Scripture 
as selfishness. The man who reads the Sermon on 
the Mount while impressed with the importance of 
looking out for number one will probably not be the 
richer by a single idea; let him read it feeling that 
every man is his brother and he will find more to 
think about than he can get through with in a life- 
time. 

28. The Bible is the book of the law. That is 
why it is so dull to the man who is determined to 
have his own way. 

29. If you are to fall in love with the Bible you 
must believe in believing. Get a good hold on the 
whole book and make a virtue of holding on. Don't 
get semi-inspiration and human inspiration in your 
vocabulary. A man had better swallow the lid, head- 
lines, references, Jonah-and-the-whale and all than to 
feel around this modern whale of higher criticism. I 
have a real sympathy for the progressive student who 
has to keep chalk points in order to mark a divinely 



142 ART OF ENJOYING THE BIBLE. 

inspired verse red, a semi-divinelj inspired verse 
blue, a humanly inspired verse green, and a personal- 
opinion-of-the-autlior verse yellow, and who has to 
give up his night reading for fear of getting his blues 
and greens mixed, and of passing over his yellows al- 
together. 

30. It is hardly worth while for you to go through 
the Bible if you are not going to allow the Bible to 
go through you. 

31. Write out a story to illustrate a particular 
point, l^ow write the story again (without copying) 
to illustrate a different point. Put the two manu- 
scripts side by side, and have someone to compare 
them. He will probably find half a dozen discrep- 
ancies. What will be his conclusion ? Simply that 
one of the accounts cannot be true. But tell him 
what you had in view in each case, and let him ex- 
amine the manuscripts again. In all probability 
every discrepancy will disappear, and he will affirm 
that both stories are true. If we will bear in mind 
this simple statement when we come to read two 
Scriptural accounts of the same event we will find the 
seeming contradictions of the Bible disappearing as 
the mists before the morning sun. 

32. It is a waste of time to read the Bible when 
every reference to perdition reminds one of his 
enemies. One cannot cherish enmity and his Bible 
too. 

33. There are people who absorb the Bible as a 



ADDITIONAL POINTS. 143 

sponge absorbs water. They know bow to receive, 
but not how to give. They feel under no obligations 
to give. It is plain that these people are getting 
only the pulp and not the juice of the Word ; for no 
man who once tastes the truth can keep it to himself. 
It is a characteristic of the Bible that it looks out 
for its own distribution. We may familiarize our- 
selves with the cold facts of the Word and keep them 
to ourselves, but if we get hold of the warm truths of 
the Word we will share them with others. 

34. We may acquire a taste for the Bible as lite- 
rature by reading it, but the appetite for the Word 
of God is from above. Still God does not give an 
appetite for his Word to any man that is too lazy to 
read it. 

35. A mountaineer who has never been fifty miles 
from home wants to know where Moses got enough 
sand to bury a dead Egyptian. If he was disposed 
to be critical he would say that the passage should 
read "rocks." But what would become of the faith 
of the down-easter who lives where sand is deep 
enough to bury a horse, but who never saw a rock 
as big as a chestnut? Yet there are faint-hearted 
saints who would like to know why it did not please 
God to give us a Bible that nobody could stumble 
over. 

36. The Bible does not meet human wishes, but 
it satisfies human wants. That is why it never at- 



144 ART OF ENJOYING THE BIBLE. 

tracts one who spends his time in idle wisliing and is 
heedless of his real wants. 

37. The man who regards the Bible as a collec- 
tion of relics may find in it a good many things to 
gratify his appetite for curiosities, but he will not 
stumble upon so much as a mouthful of food. 

38. If one should undertake to account for the 
popular distaste of Bible reading — a distaste which 
is not being overcome, whatever may be said of the 
increasing interest in Bible study — one would prob- 
ably look for the secret in the exotic character of the 
Book and in those sins which vitiate the appetite for 
the things of God. But if one would seek a reason 
for that distaste which dates from early childhood, 
he must look for it in the impressions which are 
formed of the Book by children who are left to find 
it out for themselves. While the foreign dress of the 
Book may account for the aversion which some 
people have for it, and sin will account for the 
aversion of others, there are probably as many 
more whose distaste is due chiefly to the neglect of 
parents at a critical period of the child's life. It is 
just as easy for a child to form a wrong impression 
of the Bible as it is for him to form a wrong im- 
pression of any other book. 

39. If the Bible is to be of use to us in time of 
temptation, we must know much of it by heart. 
Wlien Satan pounces upon us there is no time to look 
up a text. 



ADDITIONAL POINTS. 14s 

40. He who has never found hidden sweetness 
in the Book should read a chapter now and then to 
somebody who is hungry — to the invalid over the 
way; to grandmother; to a friend in trouble; to a 
dying man; to a penitent sinner. One of the most 
delightful tasks a young w^orker can undertake is that 
of visiting invalid saints — rather healthy saints with 
invalid bodies. It is strange that so many pass by 
this inviting field without noticing how white it is 
unto the harvest, and how few laborers are in it. 
You sit at home wondering what you can do for 
Christ, and just across the way dear old Grandmother 
Whitesoul, with the dim eyes, is lying on her couch 
this minute wishing that the Lord would be pleased 
to send somebody to her room occasionally to read to 
her out of the dear old Book whose words are sweeter 
to her than the honey and the honey-comb. ]^o 
doubt the Lord would be pleased to send you. Very 
likely nobody else will go, and if you don't go the 
dear old saint will remain hungry. For the good 
people over at Grandmother Whitesoul's don't read 
to her. They never think she wants anything; she 
never asks for anything. Grandmothers were made 
to help the rest of the family! Put on your hat, 
and ask God to warm up your heart until the love 
that is in it overflows your lips, and go to see the 
dear soul. You need not carry your Bible ; she will 
want you to read from hers — the yellow-leaved old 
book worn through and through, but with half the 
10 



14S ART OF ENJOYING THE BIBLE. 

finger-marks in tlie Psalms and the Gosepl of John. 
And you need not select the chapter beforehand. 
Very likely she will do that herself, and if she does 
not you can safely dip down anyr^^here among the 
leaves where the finger-marks are thickest. Or, you 
may choose such passages as Psalms 103, 119 ; Isaiah 
53 ; John 14 ; Hebrews 12 ; I. Peter 1 ; Kevelation 7. 
You will not find it a difficult task. Reading to an 
aged saint whose eyes light up at every mention of the 
golden city, is like reading to your own heart from a 
hymn-book on a Sunday afternoon. You do not be- 
gin at the beginning and read the hymns in their 
order. You consult your feelings. You look for a 
h^Tun that your heart is singing. 

41. In reading to the sick, if the patient is a 
Christian inclined to melancholy, choose the prom- 
ises, songs of triumph and accounts of the fulfillment 
of prophecy and of the miracles of Jesus. If he is a 
young Christian read chapters that awaken a desire 
for a more consecrated life — e. g., the fifteenth of 
John, the twelfth of Romans, the thirteenth of I. 
Corinthians, and the third of I. John. If the pa- 
tient is a cold church-member, avoid those parts of 
the Bible which are addressed especially to the spirit- 
ually minded, and which unfold the deeper mysteries 
of our religion. When a man begins to crave 
the leeks and onions of Egypt Jiis soul loathes all 
heavenly food. If the patient cherishes ill-feeling 
against a neighbor, read the first epistle of John, and 



ADDITIOH^AL POINTS. 147 

avoid all those Psalms in which the writer seems to 
be calling do^m the wrath of God upon his enemies. 
If the patient is a young man, yon will have use for 
all the tact and ffrace yon can command. If he is a 
man of the world, and yon have his consent to read to 
him, do not begin with ^'Ile that being often reproved 
hardeneth his neck, shall snddenly be destroyed, and 
that without remedy." Eead a story — a story of a 
blameless life — the life of a young man — say, Daniel. 
Perhaps yon will have to read several of these before 
advancing. As a second step, try the story of the 
interview between Christ and the rich yonng man. 
If he receives this (and yon should pray as you read 
that he may receive it), you will find it an easy mat- 
ter to select subsequent readings. In the event of 
sudden and serious illness, when there is no time to 
spare, read to him the offers of the Gospel, especially 
as presented by John, and follow them up with the 
parable of the Prodigal Son. If to sickness be added 
the distress of poverty or other trouble, read Psalms 
37, 91 ; Isaiah 41 : 10-14; Luke 12. Make out your 
own list of passages, and set them down on a blank 
leaf of your Bible. Don't use a second-hand list. 
I have sat down by a patient with enough references 
before me to last a month, and have been unable to 
select anything that I thought would fit. That was 
because I had copied the references out of a book, 
and had never made them my own. It was like try- 
ins' to find a fit for a customer out of a limited stock 



148 ART OF El^ JOYING THE BIBLE. 

of job-lot clothing without knowing anything about 
the stock. 

42. A man may spend so much time planning 
that he will have no energy left to execute his plan. 
So one may spend so much time reading about the 
Bible and about methods of studying the Bible that 
he will have no appetite for the Bible itself. We 
need to read about the Book, but we should be careful 
not to allow such reading to get in the way of read- 
ing the Book. 

43. One of the excuses which the average man 
likes to render his conscience for neglecting his Bible 
is that he does not see anything in it. He is quite 
sure that he would read his Bible more if he could 
find something in it to pay for the trouble. But such 
an excuse shows deceit on its very face. It is true, 
doubtless, that he has never found anything in the 
Bible; but it is also true that he has never gone to 
his Bible to find anything. He has been going to it 
because he was impelled thereto — something within 
or something without has been urging him, and he 
has been going only as he was urged. If a mother 
asks her child to go up stairs for a needle or a spool 
of thread, and he does not want to go, and finally goes 
only in obedience to an emphatic command, he may 
find what he is sent for, but — well, we know how it 
usually turns out. On the other hand, if he gets it 
into his head that he wants to find the needle or spool 
for his mother he is pretty sure to come back with it. 



ADDITIONAL POINTS. 149 

So if a man goes to the Bible simply because he feels 
that he must read it, he is likely to rise from the read- 
ing no wiser than when he began; biit if he gets it 
into his head that there is treasure in the Book, and 
that he is going to get Lis share of it, his search is 
not going to be unsnccessfiil. We don't usually get, 
in this world, what we are unwilling to look for. 

44. Perhaps we would read the Bible to better 
purpose if we could rid our minds of the idea that 
there is merit in the act of reading it. We are not 
blessed as a reward for reading the Bible, but we are 
blessed in having the privilege of reading it, and we 
may be blessed in reading it. 

45. A sentence which is obscure when spoken by 
a stranger may appear plain when spoken by a friend, 
for the reason that in the latter case our knowledge 
of the speaker throws light upon his word. Many 
things in the Bible which are obscure to the casual 
reader are perfectly transparent to the man who has 
lived with the Book long enough to catch its spirit. 

46. The Word of God comes to us in many places. 
Sometimes in the midst of a storm his Word comes 
with the suddenness of a flash of lightning. Some- 
times in a quiet evening hour it steals softly into our 
minds, and opens before us as a flower opens. 
Sometimes in the midst of pressing cares a word of 
Scripture is flashed upon us with a meaning it never 
had before. But the Word of God comes to us with 
peculiar force in the wilderness. Every man is 



150 ART OP ENJOYING THE BIBLE. 

given an opportunity to go to school to the Holy Ghost 
in the wilderness. This is the meaning of the blank 
spaces in our lives — of the long days spent in waiting 
and in confinement; it is the meaning of much of 
our poverty and suffering and loneliness. These 
hours of enforced stillness are the Holy Spirit's school 
hours. But the quiet hours in Vv^hich God comes to 
us are not idle hours, and the wilderness where God 
reveals himself is not the wilderness to which we go 
to escape life's duties. 

47. The Bible covers the whole range of Chris- 
tian experience so completely that if we will read all 
parts of it we will have our attention called to every 
part of our life, so that in nothing can we uncon- 
scientiously fall behind. 

48. We are occasionallv asked to recommend a 
volume of Bible stories suitable for children. The 
best book of Bible stories with which we are ac- 
quainted is the Bible. Other books claiming to pre- 
sent the stories of the Bible in simple form are not 
without value, but their place is in the hands of the 
parents whose children are hungry for "just one more 
story/' rather than in the hands of the children them- 
selves. If the child is to be interested in the Bible 
he should be given the Bible; second-hand interest 
rarely develops into first-hand interest. A serious 
objection to nearly all of the Bible story books we 
have seen is that they are disfigured with horrible 
pictures which no child should ever see. The fact 



ADDITIONAL P0INT8. 151 

that the picture of a young woman carrying a bloody 
human head on a silver charger is labelled ^^John the 
Baptist Beheaded" does not raise it a hair's-breadth 
above the level of the unspeakable wood cuts that 
adorn the pages of the forbidden yellow-back novel. 

50. It is hard to get one's mind on the Bible 
while the next-door-neighbor is praying over an empty 
flour barrel. 

51. A man may spend so much time planning 
that he will have no energy left to execute his plan. 
So one may spend so much time reading about the 
Bible and about methods of studying the Bible that 
he will have no appetite for the Bible itself. We 
need to read about the Book, but we should be careful 
not to allow such reading to get in the way of read- 
ing the Book. 

52. Never give up a passage of Scripture as un- 
intelligible until you have tried to read it in the light 
of the cross. 

53. A parable is a picture of truth. Whether it 
is a photograph of history or not is immaterial: its 
object is to exhibit truth, not facts. A good many 
pious people who have never learned the difference 
between truth and facts, feel compelled to accept the 
incidents of a parable as history, because they ^^can- 
not believe that Jesus could tell deliberately a thing 
that was not true." Jesus could not tell a thing that 
was not true, but there is no reason why he could 
not have painted an illustration of truth that had no 



152 ART OF ENJOYING THE BIBLE. 

foundation in fact. If, when he was asked ^^Who 
is my neighbor V^ he had taken a piece of chalk and 
silently sketched the scene which he so beautifully 
described, no one would have thought it necessary to 
believe that the sketch represented an actual occur- 
rence. He may have related only actual occurrences, 
but the cause of truth did not forbid his "supposing 
a case." In speaking a parable Jesus did not pro- 
fess to relate facts but to illustrate truth, and it was 
a matter of small importance whether he illustrated 
it on a blackboard or by a word painting or a quota- 
tion from ancient history. 

54. We are told to read the Bible in order to 
cultivate our minds, or to improve our literary style, 
or to exercise our critical faculty, or to acquire a 
reputation for scholarship, or to enjoy its beauties. 
But the Bible itself does not give us any such advice. 
"Thou shalt meditate therein day and night that thou 
mayest observe to do according to all that is written 
therein." 

55. One reason why the destructive critic utterly 
fails to catch the spirit of the Bible is because he 
approaches it as a critic and not as a pupil. God 
does not put himself on a level wdth any man — not 
even a critic. The man who approaches Him in a 
spirit of criticism will get no response, and the man 
who approaches his Word in the same spirit will find 
it as dumb as an oyster. Let the critic lay aside his 
knife and his air of authority and let him read the 



ADDITIONAL POINTS. 163 

Book as a letter from his Father and he will have 
no more desire to pick flaws in it than to prove the 
fallibility of its Author. 

56. If we want something to fit a theory we have 
only to construct the theory, and then go to the Bible 
and look for a fit. If we want to find truth we had 
better go to the Book confessing that there are some 
things we don't know, and willing that some things 
shall be hidden, and ready to receive with thankful 
hearts whatever the Holy Spirit may choose to re- 
veal. 

67. If you are preparing a dinner that is not to 
be eaten — a mere show-window dinner — a wooden 
ham and a painted tin turkey will serve your purpose 
almost as well as the genuine article. If you are 
studying the Bible critically — which is a mere pre- 
paration for feeding upon the Word — and have no 
intention of going farther, you might almost as well 
be studying Plato or Shakespeare. We have out- 
grown the idea that there is virtue in reading the 
story of David and Goliath just because it is a Bible 
story ; what we now need is to get away from the idea 
that there is virtue in the study of a book of the Bible 
as literature simply because it is a part of the Bible. 

58. Before Jesus ^ ^opened the understanding'' of 
his disciples they were altogether at sea; they had 
misinterpreted everything: the only Christ they saw 
in the Old Testament was a mere temporal ruler. 
Let us not miss this lesson. We may study the Bible 



154 ^RT OF ENJOYING THE BIBLE. 

until doomsday in the best light that the human in- 
tellect can shed upon it ; but we will never grasp its 
meaning until we have studied it in the light which 
Cometh do^vn from heaven. 

59. Typewriting is a wearisome task unless one 
writes often enough for the fingers to keep en rapport 
with the keys. Then it is a pleasure. The reason 
why some people find reading the Bible so fatiguing 
is because they do not read it often enough to keep eri, 
rapport with its spirit. 

60. We are frequently warned against having 
too much reverence for the Bible. There is danger 
that it will amount to superstition, we are told. But 
reverence never amounts to superstition. Supersti- 
tion is not reverence run to seed; it is not reverence 
deformed ; there is absolutely no relationship between 
them. Reverence for God is what we feel when we 
know God. Superstition comes from ignorance of 
God. Let us not cherish a superstitious feeling to- 
ward the Bible, but let us not cease to cultivate rever- 
ence for the Book for fear our reverence will run to 
superstition. 

61. The parts of the Bible which yield the small- 
est results are not those which we know best but those 
which appear most familiar. If we read the Lord's 
Prayer without getting anything out of it we are 
apt to think it is because we have emptied that mine, 
but as a matter of fact it is because we have never 
mined it at all. We have walked over the ground 



ADDITIONAL POINTS. 155 

until we have grown accustomed to it, and never think 
of the gold that is beneath our feet. The very fact 
that a passage appears familiar is an indication that 
its truth is largely hidden. Things familiar seldom 
have a message for us. When a text is opening up 
to us it no longer seems familiar; it is new. It is 
easy to study an unfamiliar passage — its novelty 
helps to sustain interest; but if we want the richest 
results we should dig deep in these mines to the sur- 
faces of which we have long been accustomed. 

SELECTED HINTS. 

We should always consider who are the people to 
whom or of whom the prophet speaks, and whether 
his words appear to be limited in their application to 
a certain locality; also whether the subsequent move- 
ments of nations might bring some new people within 
the reach of the prophet's words ; thus, for example, 
Egypt might stand for the nation which shall here- 
after rule Egypt, instead of being confined to its early 
inhabitants. The Ethiopian eunuch put a wise ques- 
tion when he asked, ^^Of whom speaketh the prophet 
this, of himself? or of some other man?" — Girdle- 
stone, 

It is incredible to any one who has not made the 
experiment, what a proficiency may be made in that 
knowledge which maketh wise unto salvation, by 
studying the Scriptures with reference to the parallel 
passages without any other commentary or exposition 



156 ART OF ENJOYING THE BIBLE. 

than that which the different parts of the sacred 
volume mutnany furnish for each other. Let the 
most illiterate Christian study them in this manner, 
and let him never cease to pray for the illumination 
of that Spirit by whom these books were dictated, and 
the whole compass of abstruse philosophy and recon- 
dite history shall furnish no argument with which 
the perverse will of man shall be able to shake this 
learned Christian's faith. — Horsley. 

Since I have read Moses in the light of the ISTew 
Testament I have seen that everything belonging to 
the tabernacle belonged to the Lord Jesus Christ; 
that the work or person of Christ may be seen in every 
type; and that all the sacrifices pointed to Christ's 
one great sacrifice. — George Rodgers. 

We should be sure to store up in our memories 
whatever God says to us. It is a good thing to have 
texts of Scripture in the memory, that in the dark- 
ness of the night we may recall them; and if we 
should live like Eli, till our eyes are dim, and we 
cannot see, we may have the Bible in our memories. — 
S pur g eon. 

It is clear, then, that we cannot be safe in our in- 
terpretation of a sentence or a phrase when we read 
it by itself. To come to a fair and reasonable under- 
standing of it we must "look before and after,'' trac- 
ing the line of thought that leads up to it, and seeing 
whether it is the end of a passage or whether it is 
linked on to subsequent statements which are intended 



ADDITIONAL POINTS, 157 

to qualify it or to give it some special application. 
Read tlms. with a careful regard for its setting, many 
an isolated phrase may be taken up and prized as a 
jewel of thought. — Prof. Adeney. 

We should always note in our reading the words 
which are put into italics — first, because they remind 
us that our Bible is only a translation, though a very 
good one ; and secondly, because they help us to judge 
of the difference between the old languages in which 
the Bible was written and our o\\m.. Few persons 
realize the diificulties which Bible translators have 
to OA^ercome. The only other peculiarity in the print- 
ing of the Bible is that the word Lord or God is some- 
times printed in capital letters; in which case it 
stands for the sacred name Jehovah, and not for the 
more ordinary word which signifies Master. — Girdle- 
stone. 

There ig a practice on the part of many of reading 
into the Bible present-day methods of thought. This 
practice not only obscures the truth, but also leads to 
false conclusions. Instead of dragging the Scrip- 
tures into our surroundings, we must, if we would 
fully understand them, take the point of view of the 
writers of these inspired records. The journeys of 
Paul cannot be understood by one who will hear of 
no other means of travel than steamers and rail- 
roads. — Anon. 

Always distinguish between the essential and the 
accidental. Why was the Bible written? It was 



158 ART OF ENJOYING TEE BIBLE. 

written to bring men to God. Keep that one purpose 
in view, and you can never go far wrong. The Bible, 
in its supreme purpose, has simply nothing to do with 
science, history, wars or chronology. All these it 
may or may not make use of as framework ; its pur- 
pose, lofty and holy, is to reveal the relation of the 
loving God to the individual man and the total race. 
That relation you can find if you are really intent 
on the sacred pursuit. — D7\ Joseph Parher. 

Use a Bible in another language than your own, if 
you are able. This gives a freshness to old texts, of 
which the truth is ever fresh, but the words may have 
become trite to the ear. — Crosby. 

Read special portions of Scripture analytically, 
looking into the deeper meanings, as astronomers 
search into the depths of the skies. 'New stars may 
be found in the most studied chapters. — Grafts. 

The meaning of a word used by any writer is the 
meaning affixed to it by those for whom he*immedi- 
ately wrote. It is sometimes necessary to look be- 
yond the words, and even the sentences, to the imme- 
diate context, i. e., what goes before or follows a par- 
ticular sentence, verse or chapter. Look at the de- 
sign of the book itself, or of some large section in 
which the words occur. Sometimes the scope of a 
passage and that of the book are different. Compare 
Scripture with Scripture in passages containing the 
same word or phrase in similar sense, or speaking of 



ADDITIONAL POINTS. 159 

the same thing, or having a like thought to justify a 
comparison. — Sims. 

Miles Coverdale, in his preface to the English 
Bible (1535) gives this advice: "It will greatly 
help you to understand Scripture, if you mark not 
only what is written, but of whom and to whom ; with 
what words, at -what time, where, to what extent, with 
what circumstances, considering that which goes be- 
fore and that which follows.^' 



OCT S6 1899 



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